A New Princess Arisen
by PSVT
Summary: Sequel to The Princess that Never Was. Her fight against the Dark Kingdom isn't Usagi's only struggle. To save the world she will need her senshi... assuming she can find them all.
1. At the Beginning of the Long Road

_A/N: This is a sequel to_ _The Princess that Never Was_ _. If you haven't read that story yet, then I highly recommend doing so before starting upon this one._

 **1 | At the Beginning of the Long Road**

Saeko's weary sigh seemed to echo throughout the house, followed by a sharp bang as the handle of her rolling suitcase smacked against the floor. She barely seemed to notice the report or the haphazard placement of her luggage as she sought out a nearby chair. Upon finding a comfortable position, the woman tilted her head back and drifted her gaze toward the ceiling. It did not take long for her to slip into yet another spell of deep contemplation, one of several that had afflicted her that evening. That she had even managed to function long enough to pack the suitcase and haul it down the stairs was a minor miracle.

 _Does any of this matter anymore? Given what those monsters did to my daughter, I can't believe that Usagi is alive now. I mean, I want to think so, but…_

Tears began to stream down her cheeks, but she knocked them away with a hand and forcefully shook her head.

 _No, I can't give up on her. Not yet. And, even if the worst happened and she truly is dead, I made a promise to her that I would follow through with the plan. That means getting to Kyoto and ensuring that her family is safe. Nothing will prevent me from fulfilling my promise to her._

Her newfound resolve was the fuel she used to push herself away from the chair and march up the stairs where a second suitcase awaited her. She had stuffed the first bag to the seams with clothing, far more than she would usually take for a business trip. Not even for a full vacation—something she had not enjoyed since entering medical school many years ago—would she have packed that much clothes. Yet, a similar fate awaited the second piece in the luggage set, one that was larger than the first. Both were necessary, as she did not intend to return from her journey west.

 _There, finished._ She rested her hands on her hips as a frown marred her lips. _Now, all I have to do is get this behemoth down the stairs._

Like its brethren, the small coasters at the bottom of the suitcase were of little use once she reached the steps. No amount of cursing her past buying decisions or wishing for larger wheels was going to help her, and she knew it. However, her mind did manage to construct a solution to her conundrum that was one part unorthodox and one part blatantly obvious.

 _Maybe I can just push this thing down the stairs. It's not like it'll matter much in the end anyway. Besides, it's just clothes and a few toiletries, so there's nothing to damage._

Normally she would not consider such logic sound, but the series of loud booms said otherwise. She could not help but smirk as she saw the suitcase lying upside down at the end of the stairs, propped up against its mate. However, she did not spend much time admiring her handiwork as she knew there was one more bag left to pack. Minutes later, she stood in the living room wearing the smaller shoulder bag that she had filled with important financial papers and other related items.

 _Well, packing's done. All that's left is loading all this stuff into the trunk._ She winced the moment her gaze fell upon the two larger suitcases. _I can see already that it's going to be a pain, but I don't have any time to waste grousing about it._

That did not stop her from groaning the moment she lifted the handle for the smaller of the two pieces of luggage. She took a deep breath and exhaled it at the same time she gave the heavy thing a hard yank, freeing it from its confines beneath the other bag. From there, it was a short walk through the dining room, out the back door, and to the garage. As she marched she weighed in her mind the advantages and disadvantages of loading the bags one at a time or waiting until both were near the car before exerting the energy to lift them into the trunk.

That was when metal and plastic slammed against wood, swiftly followed by a sharp gasp. Then, there were the quick patters of footsteps that shot toward the rear of the house.

 _Did I just hear what I think I heard?_

Though it was not her initial intent, her question might as well have been a probe of her current sanity. She pulled back one of the curtains and peeked outside, but all she could see was the rear of a navy blue sedan. Of course, that alone would have been enough to pique her curiosity given the fact she owned no such vehicle. However, it was supplanted by the sounds that had sent her scurrying there in the first place. It was both familiar and completely unexpected, and from her current location it was somewhat difficult to perceive. At least, that was the case until the deep grumble from the strange car's engine ceased, and then the sounds became crystal clear. She recognized those mellifluous tones as easily as she could distinguish day from night, and yet she still thought she had lost her mind.

 _It can't be… I… I must be dreaming this._

Neither her age nor her exhaustion were impediments to her as she raced to the door and tugged on the handle to pull it open. Standing before her was ultimate confirmation of what she considered merely a presumption, and an outlandish one at that. Yet, she hesitated, unsure of whether her eyes were playing tricks on the rest of her conscious mind.

"A-Ami…?"

The subject of her tentative question did not waver when she ran up to the woman and tightly wrapped her arms around her.

"Mama!"

Tears immediately welled in Saeko's eyes and streamed down her cheeks as she bent down to embrace her daughter as securely as she could manage. Those were elated tears, an absolute contrast from her far more miserable weeping from the prior night and many other times that same day. The two hugged for almost a minute, neither one wanting to let go for fear that they might lose each other once again. It was only when Saeko noticed the other four people behind the blue-haired girl that she relented and slowly released her hold.

"It turned out she wasn't dead after all," Usagi cheerfully said as beaming smile overtook her lips.

"Usagi-san!" Saeko went to hug with equal fervor the girl whose life she feared was lost along with her daughter's. "How did you manage to escape? What happened to you? What happened to Ami? Who are these people?" The questions came in a rapid-fire manner. Ami turned a confused expression to Usagi as she had no idea why her mother would ask the girl such pointed and informed questions.

"It's a long story." The reply was one that applied both to Ami and her mother. "However, I promise I'll tell you everything as soon as we're inside."

The group slowly filtered into the house and gathered around the dining room table. Usagi and Ami sat down in the chairs with Luna calmly perched in the blonde's lap. Haruka, Michiru, and Kunzite preferred to stand near the back of the room despite the presence of more than enough seats for everyone to comfortably sit. They felt it improper to interfere with the joyful reunion of a parent with a child she believed was forever lost. Saeko took advantage of their reticence to move one of the chairs closer to her daughter so she could hold the girl's hand while Usagi spoke. It only made sense given her absence and presumed death that she would want tangible assurance of Ami's existence.

"I'm so happy to see you again," Saeko told her horribly perplexed Ami. "I truly thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead."

"Who do you mean by _we_?"

"Myself, Usagi-san, and her parents. Usagi-san told us everything about you being a Sailor Senshi and about her being Princess Serenity. She also told us everything about how the other girls abandoned her and attacked her. We all were convinced that Zoisite killed you last night. The thought that I may never be able to see you and hold you again absolutely devastated me."

The confession caused Ami's eyes to widen even further, this time in shock that her mother was aware of the whole dangerous mess she had to endure as a senshi. Her surprise soon transformed into profound melancholy. Kunzite also was startled by the mention of his former colleague by a person he otherwise thought was a mere civilian, but he managed to conceal his astonishment behind a stone-faced expression.

"I didn't know what was happening to me," Ami whispered. "It was very difficult for me to breathe or to see, let alone move. Before the moment I'm sure I lost consciousness, I thought about what you would be going through if I didn't find some way out. I wasn't afraid of dying, but I was absolutely scared of what would happen to you if I did die and you had no idea how or why."

"I don't know what I would have done in that circumstance. For that I'm eternally grateful for Usagi-san and her astounding wealth of compassion. If it weren't for her, I'm sure I'd be a lot worse off."

She then turned a small yet heartfelt smile to the pigtailed blonde that was answered by an equally warm grin. "I'm very glad you're okay as well. We were worried for you after your text message. I didn't know what they were going to do to you after capturing you. In my mind I assumed that they were going to kill you as soon as they found you. It was difficult thinking you were gone and everything we did wouldn't matter anymore, but I remembered what you told me to do and the promise I made to you and thus I continued with the plan."

"Plan?" Ami's puzzled gaze shifted between her mother and Usagi.

"We had a plan to move Usagi-san and her family out of Juuban after the Dark Kingdom attacked them."

"Wait… The Dark Kingdom attacked Usagi-chan's family?" Her shout of dismay woke Luna, who looked at her charge with a similar expression of horror on her face.

Usagi slowly nodded. "The Dark Kingdom knows everything about us. I don't know exactly why they attacked them, but I feel it was to send a message to me."

"The point of the attack was to weaken you and eliminate your will to continue fighting by taking away from you those you loved most," Kunzite said in a low baritone that revealed his utter remorse. "I'm very sorry for having ordered that attack against your parents." The explanation and apology earned him a questioning glare from the older brunette.

"Ah. That's Kunzite." Usagi's reply drew Saeko's attention away from the nervous man and back to her in the form of an alarmed stare. "It's okay. He's working with us now that I've finally purified him."

"And we're fellow senshi," Michiru followed with a brief yet welcoming wave of her hand. "I'm Kaiou Michiru, or Sailor Neptune, and my partner Tenou Haruka is Sailor Uranus." The sandy-haired blonde curtly nodded in salutation.

"So, Kunzite was the one who attacked your family?" Luna asked, an action that momentarily startled Saeko before she remembered that the cat could speak.

"I wasn't the one who carried out the attack," Kunzite said. "It was done by a being called Sazaratha."

"Who is she?" Usagi asked. Both Ami and her mother echoed their desire to know the same information by giving the general a pair of focused stares.

"She's one of the original servants of Queen Metalia and, as of now, Beryl's lone remaining general. The most important thing about her is that, unlike any of the original Shitennou or Beryl, she's not human. She has the ability to disguise herself as a human by taking the form of that person's body. Unfortunately that results in the death of the person whose figure she steals."

A stunned silence filled the room at the revelation that, despite the diligent work of the senshi, precious souls already had been lost in the conflict. They were fatalities that, until that moment, had gone unnoticed by anyone and, most likely, would remain mysteries to those who were not intimately involved in the war.

"So… that nurse who captured me… she's actually… actually…?" Usagi hesitantly turned a dismal glance toward her former adversary as she spoke.

"An innocent victim of Sazaratha. I'm sorry to say so."

"What else can this Sazaratha do?" Michiru asked more determinedly.

"Possess inanimate objects, and sometimes living creatures as well, and use them to attack unsuspecting targets," Kunzite replied. "Another of her skills is learning an opponent's attack and using it against them. A pertinent example is what happened to Sailor Venus when Sazaratha and I were ordered to capture the transformation brooch and the remaining guardian senshi. She used a modified version of Venus's 'Love me Chain' attack that used three chains instead of the usual single chain. However, she put so much dark energy into the attack that it almost killed the girl with a single hit."

"And that was the same attack she used against Zoisite, right?" Usagi asked, eliciting a curt nod from Kunzite in reply.

"What happened to Zoisite?" Ami was beyond confused, though it helped that everyone around her could plainly understand why.

"Sazaratha killed him before Usagi could purify him in the same way she healed me," Kunzite said. "I don't know why she did that, but I have a feeling that there's going to be some conflict within the Dark Kingdom between Sazaratha and Beryl. The two never fully trusted one another."

"But… that's a good thing, right?" Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not entirely sure. Even if there's some friction between the two, they're still fighting for very similar goals," Kunzite responded. "That means they're still extremely dangerous, and we can't let up against them, especially with their new strategy."

"The youma army," Usagi said. Ami turned a curious gaze to the pigtailed blonde that prompted her to expound further. "Beryl is creating an army of thousands of youmas—"

"Fifteen hundred to be exact," Michiru nonchalantly interjected.

"Right. Fifteen hundred youmas to use for gathering energy," Usagi finished. "Many more than we've ever fought before."

"If there's any good news, it's that it will take a few months before most of the youmas are ready to be deployed." Kunzite's voice carried only the smallest hint of optimism.

Saeko shared the man's anxiety. "That means we have some time to… to… do something to prepare against the onslaught."

"But what do we do?" Ami asked.

"Unfortunately, I don't quite know the answer to that question," Kunzite said.

Michiru's eyes widened the instant the idea leaped into her mind. "Can't you teleport us back into the Dark Kingdom?"

The silver-haired man dejectedly shook his head. "That requires dark energy, which I no longer possess. Otherwise, that would have been my preferred choice of attack."

"Certainly, we can't take them on all at once, even with my added power," Usagi said with a similarly gloomy tone as she fell forward into a doleful slouch. "Maybe a few at a time, but if there's no way to stop the Dark Kingdom from creating and releasing more youmas, it'll ultimately be a lost cause."

"In any case, I think we can't spend too much time worrying about that. Not when we have a train to catch," Michiru said.

Usagi snapped upright as the turquoise-haired woman's comment reminded her why she was there in the first place. "You're right, Michiru-san. I'm sure that in a few months we can find some way to stop them. But right now I need something to wear besides this… awful thing." She frowned as she gazed at the morbid black robes she continued to wear.

"Your clothes should still be upstairs in your room," Saeko said. "I didn't know whether I should pack it or not. I didn't know if you would return…" By that time fresh tears welled at the base of her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks.

"I did return." Usagi's voice was as comforting as the warm gaze she pointed upward at the sullen woman. "Despite everything that happened to me, and what I almost did to myself, I did come back."

"I'm glad." Saeko leaned toward the blonde and pulled her into a tight hug. "I can't imagine what my life would be like without either you or Ami."

Usagi's face turned bright red upon hearing Saeko's adoring words. She turned to Ami, only to see the blue-haired girl smile at her while exhibiting an equally furious blush on her cheeks. The girl did not know just how close the relationship between her best friend and her mother had become over a remarkably short time until she witnessed that scene. However, the knowledge only seemed to make her feel happier as opposed to worried or, worse, jealous.

"Anyway, you need to hurry up and get some clothes packed," Saeko said more cheerfully as she gently pulled away from Usagi and turned to her daughter, enveloping her once again in a loving embrace. "And you need to get some clothes packed, too."

Ami emphatically nodded as both she and Usagi rose from their chairs and ran up the stairs, with Luna sprinting behind them. As the pair disappeared from view, Saeko slowly approached the two women and Kunzite.

"Thank you so much for helping to rescue Usagi-san and my daughter," she said to the pair of senshi. She then turned her eyes to Kunzite, who flinched at the sudden attention paid to him. "Even though you did so much to hurt the two of them, let alone many other people I deeply care about, your decision to help us now redeems you in my opinion."

"I sincerely apologize—" He was interrupted by the brunette's slowly shaking head.

"There's no need to apologize or feel badly about the things you did then. Given that Usagi-san purified you, it means it's highly unlikely that you were fully responsible for your evil mindset."

"Beryl, with the assistance of Metalia's energy, placed us under a spell that forced us to work for her," he said softly. "Otherwise, we Shitennou were extremely loyal to our prince and would not have obliged that woman, especially after she turned evil."

"Wait, so you're saying that Beryl wasn't evil beforehand?"

Kunzite shook his head in reply and opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to the punch by the two women standing beside him.

"She was supposed to be Endymion's wife and the Queen of Earth in the past life," Michiru coolly interjected. "They were engaged to be married before he called off the wedding."

"Apparently Endymion found Serenity more appealing than Beryl." A short huff punctuated Haruka's derision. "Not that I can blame him for _that_ , but if he hadn't broken Beryl's heart then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"All of that, unfortunately, is true," Kunzite said. "That incident utterly depressed Beryl and weakened her, thus giving Metalia a perfect host through which she could enact her plan."

"And what plan was that?" Saeko asked.

"Conquering the Earth and making it part of her collection of dominated planets. Of course, that wasn't what Beryl intended. She wanted to enact revenge against the Silver Millennium and to regain Endymion's love, and she felt she needed Metalia's power to achieve both. If she had learned of Metalia's true intentions, I doubt she would have allowed the infernal being to control her as it currently does. By that same logic, she wouldn't have promoted Sazaratha to her position of power within the Dark Kingdom."

Michiru stared at Kunzite in wide-eyed disbelief. "So, what you're saying is Beryl _doesn't_ want to destroy the planet?"

"That's correct. She wants to rule it with Endymion at her side. It's why she never allowed us to harm Mamoru in any way during our battles and would harshly reprimand us if we ever came close to injuring the man."

"If you knew about Metalia's true plans, then why didn't you warn Beryl about Sazaratha?" Haruka asked.

"She has a point," Michiru quickly added in the same skeptical manner. "If the Dark Kingdom succeeds in gathering enough energy to revive Metalia, and Sazaratha somehow overthrows Beryl, then the whole planet may be doomed."

"Sazaratha's promotion was more a dire act of necessity, given our shortage of leadership at the time." He exhaled a rueful sigh. "Furthermore, I didn't know just how much of a threat she was to the Dark Kingdom until today. Beryl thought she could command her respect and loyalty, and I thought I could contain her. I guess both of us were wrong."

"It's okay," Saeko said. "I'm sure all of us will find a way to defeat Sazaratha… _and_ Beryl, especially now that we have Usagi-san back with us."

The general nodded. "If anything, it'll be her overwhelming power that will get us through this."

"So… just to change subjects," Haruka said rather abruptly, "I assume you're leaving for Kyoto as well, right?"

"Yes. I have to look over Usagi-san's parents while they remain in the hospital as well as find a place for us to live," Saeko replied. "The plan for the interim is for Usagi-san and her family to stay with her aunt, while Ami and I live with my parents. However, I don't want to be a burden on them for very long, and thus we need to have our own place."

"I see," Michiru said. She closed her eyes as she probed her mind for any answer to the question she asked herself. "No, I don't know anyone who lives in Kyoto or has an open house there."

"How were you going to get there?" Haruka asked.

"By train, obviously," Saeko replied with a brief chuckle. "How else would you travel to Kyoto? Driving is completely out of the question, especially at this time of evening."

Michiru turned a playful smirk to her red-faced and uncharacteristically demure lover. "Unless your name is Tenou Haruka."

"I figured it would be a good idea to have an automobile available there… for various reasons."

"That may be true, but the drive is way too long," Saeko said.

"And uncomfortable, especially in a car that small," Kunzite added, scowling slightly.

Haruka grumbled as she turned her gaze to the ground. "Okay, okay… I get it. It's no fun for you all. I can't help that I love to drive. So what?" She huffed as she snapped her head back up and glared at them while standing with arms akimbo. Her complaints merely elicited another round of friendly laughter.

"Anyway, it's definitely a good thing to have you all here, if only so that it's much easier to transport all of our bags to the station," Saeko said with a smile directed at the trio. "I was going to park nearby Tokyo Station as it would have been a pain to haul that much luggage, but with extra hands, we may be able to take the subway."

"I think it may be a good idea to drive part of the way there, if only to conceal the fact that Usagi is here and with you," Kunzite said. "There remains the possibility that they're looking for her, and it would be prudent to ensure that she's not detected."

"I could just use the disguise pen." Usagi had returned, and she no longer donned those awful drab black robes. In their place she wore a far more tolerable light-blue skirt and white blouse. "As long as it's not obvious that it's me, then it should buy us at least a little bit of time."

"That very well may work," Saeko said. "It would be similar to what happened yesterday morning, when that strange woman—who I'm now convinced was Sazaratha—completely failed to recognize you despite bowling you over."

Kunzite pointed his eyes at his feet as a rather sheepish expression befell him. "I remember that. She wasn't too happy with me after that incident, as she thought I led her astray or gave her bad information about Usagi's energy signature."

"Energy signature?" Ami asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs with a rolling suitcase that matched the one Usagi carried.

Kunzite looked up at the girl and nodded. "The prince, princess, senshi, and magic-wielding members of the Dark Kingdom all emit unique auras which allow anyone with sufficient power and skill to detect them without necessarily being able to see them. It enabled me, when I unfortunately worked with them, to penetrate disguises and locate the senshi from great distances or through walls and other obstacles. However, Usagi's energy signature had changed between the last time I encountered her as an adversary and when Sazaratha found her."

"I understand," Ami said before lowering her head in trepidation. "But then that means the disguise pen will not hide her aura, leaving her open to detection."

"That may be the case, but as Usagi hinted, they may ignore us if there's no immediate reason to suspect that she's there."

"How far from a person can you detect this aura?" Saeko asked.

"Typically it's no more than three meters for any of the senshi, although for Usagi I can feel her energy from ten meters away."

"How is that range affected by speed?"

"The detection range greatly decreases with speed, if only because the initial signal is so fleeting that it's difficult to determine if there was anything there at all." Though they were simple to answer, he found the stream of sudden questions perplexing. "Why do you ask?"

"I figure it may be necessary for us to drive after all." Her voice carried a small amount of disappointment. "If they happen to stumble upon us it would be easier for them to track us if we're moving slowly by walking than if we're driving."

"I agree," Michiru said, sharply nodding her head.

"Besides, if we manage to make it to the subway station undetected it's highly unlikely that Sazaratha would be there," Kunzite added with a tiny smirk on his lips. "She's the last member of the Dark Kingdom, besides Beryl, who could feel such auras. However, she absolutely hates being around large groups of people in enclosed spaces."

"In that case, I recommend that we start loading the cars, and quickly," Luna abruptly said, drawing everyone's stunned stare. "I sense we're not alone."

Usagi closed her eyes, dimly glowing pink as she slipped into deep concentration. Her involuntary nervous swallow was readily audible in the silence of the room. "I can feel negative energy close to here, but it's really faint."

"Is it Sazaratha?" Saeko asked. Her voice carried far more apprehension than the blonde's.

After a few more seconds the girl finally answered, preceding her words with a light sigh. "No. It doesn't feel anything like her."

"Aw, that sucks," Haruka said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "I was really hoping for another opportunity to royally kick her ass."

Kunzite was not so flippant about the matter. "I would not be so enthusiastic about rushing into a conflict with that demon."

"Why not?" Michiru asked. Latent anger lingered in her tone. "We were clearly beating her before she ran away."

"There is a lot more you two have to learn about Sazaratha, but now is not the time for that. After all there is a youma out there that could ruin our plans if we're not careful."

"After everything we've gone through so far, you really think a measly youma can threaten us?"

He calmly shook his head. "Certainly not, so long as it doesn't realize the princess is here."

"Hey!" The fierce glower Usagi directed at Kunzite momentarily sent a shiver through the man. "It's not like I can't defeat a youma on my own."

"I don't doubt that one bit, Usagi. However, you fighting the youma might complicate your plans of escaping undetected, as it would present a glowing beacon to the Dark Kingdom that you're here right now."

Haruka punched her palm with her fist before turning a quick glance to her lover. "Hell, we'll do it, then. Besides, they should be rather surprised to see us again."

"But…" One corner of his lip slowly curled upward into a smirk as he realized the implications of her statement, even if she had not. "Hmm, I see what you mean."

The curious gaze Saeko turned to the two women had less to do with what Kunzite had suspected and more to do with the underlying mechanism behind it. "Wait. How is it possible that they don't know about you? I thought they knew about all of the senshi."

"It's because we only awakened as senshi earlier today," Michiru said. "We seemed to miss whatever event that allowed them to find out about the others."

Haruka was already at the rear door, brandishing her Lip Rod as she turned to the rest of the group. "Anyway, let's go kill this thing so we can get out of here."

"Be careful," Luna said, jumping up onto the nearby dinner table. "There are actually two youmas approaching us from opposite directions, as far as I can tell."

The feline's warning prompted not anxiety but a mischievous grin from Michiru as she retrieved her Lip Rod from her purse and headed for the other door. "Wow! It must be our lucky day. Isn't that right, Haruka-chan?"

"Absolutely." Haruka's smile nearly echoed her partner's, though it was slightly more feral. "It means I don't have to share."

The two women shared a chuckle as they departed the house in their separate directions. Ami and Usagi turned to one another and shrugged, each awash with confusion, although they were not alone in feeling that emotion. Saeko was the one who returned some semblance of organization to the group and set them in motion once again.

"Hmm… I guess we should start loading the cars while they're busy."

Kunzite recognized the consternation in the doctor's face as her gaze alternated between the two rolling suitcases. "I imagine they're rather heavy. I can take them for you if you'd like."

"Thanks, Kunzite-san." Her smile, though tiny and barely noticeable, was one of genuine gratitude. "You can put those in the trunk of my car. I figure the girls' luggage can fit in Tenou-san's car, once she returns." She then chuckled. "I only met her a few minutes ago, but I can already tell she wouldn't be the type who'd let anyone else touch her car, never mind potentially damage it."

The two walked out of the rear door, with Kunzite dragging the pair of rolling suitcases behind him. Given that her hands were free, she opened the door to the garage for him with one hand while pushing a button on her key fob with the other. Parked inside the impeccably clean space was her Mercedes E350 sedan with its trunk already slightly open. That much she anticipated, so it was clear that was not what caused her to freeze in place and stare blankly into space with widened eyes. She barely registered the fact that Kunzite had run into her, not expecting the woman to not progress further through the doorway.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

It took her a few moments to sense that someone had spoken, and even then she could only respond in a shaky whisper. "I swear I turned the lights off the last time I was in here."

Kunzite unceremoniously dropped the bags and pushed his way around the doctor, shielding her with his body. "I'm sure you did. We're not alone here." A sword materialized in his right hand. "Show yourself!"

Sure enough, his concern was validated by the presence of a young woman who swiftly stood from her low crouch on the other side of the car. The interloper initially stared back at him with a look of utter surprise, though it soon morphed, first to fright before finally settling on anger. That fury presented itself in her tense posture and warped visage as she finally addressed with a snarl the man standing in the way of her only avenue of escape.

"Our queen will not be happy to see that you've turned traitor. I'll make sure that she finds out. It'll be a miracle that you live for one more day after that, Lord Kunzite."

The man shook his head and smirked. "You really must be behind on current events to think she doesn't already know that. But, it doesn't matter anymore, not for you at least."

"That's what you think."

Saeko was not at all prepared for the appearance of the strange woman in her garage. Nor was she expecting to be blinded, thrown against a wall, or held by the throat by hands larger and stronger than any belonging to a mere human. Yet, all three happened within the span of a second. To say she was terrified was an exercise in understatement.

"Now, how about you drop your sword?" The metallic, silver-colored creature, only vaguely reminiscent of a human by then, tightened its grip of the doctor's neck in its right hand. Its left arm had morphed into a blade that it held firm against its victim's stomach. "I might just consider sparing poor Saeko's life if you do."

Despite the obvious danger, Kunzite's wicked grin only widened. "Certainly, but I can clearly see that you are unfamiliar with one of my favorite adages."

As a trained warrior, he could immediately tell that the youma had made several critical tactical errors. However, the worst of the lot was that it had severely underestimated its opponent's skills. Sure, he was an expert with a sword, but his battle with Usagi had demonstrated that he could fight just as well without one. He lifted the blade to shoulder length and pointed it away from Saeko and the youma. Then he let it go, just as the monster had commanded. Physics would have dictated that the sword would have struck the concrete floor in just over half of a second. It never made it that far. The resounding shriek of agony that echoed about the small room was proof.

"Saeko-san! What's wrong?" Usagi, already transformed as Sailor Moon by then, was the one who asked that question. She was joined by Sailor Mercury and Luna as the trio rushed into the garage just in time to see golden light flood the room.

Saeko looked to her left, where the youma had been, but saw absolutely nothing of the beast. Instead she saw her daughter and the young blonde standing just beyond the threshold, right at the location she swore she and the intruder had stood only moments ago.

"Mama! Are you okay?" Ami ran to her mother and held her around the waist with one arm while doing her best to check for any injuries with her other hand.

"I- I'm fine, I think." Her heavy breathing, on the verge of outright hyperventilation, belied her words, as did the fact that her entire body continued to tremble. "Though, on second thought, I might need to rest for a little while."

The distinct noise made by metal scraping against metal drew the group's attention to Kunzite. "There was a youma hiding in the garage, but I took care of it already."

"Really?" Surprise covered Usagi's face as soon as she noticed the pile of sand-colored dust near Saeko's feet. "How could you beat it so quickly?"

A sigh of frustration escaped his lips as he pointed at the pile of luggage that sat next to the door. "I'll tell you all about it after we get everything loaded into the trunk."

Haruka and Michiru returned to the house a few minutes later, bringing with them accounts of youma battles that were as effortless as Kunzite's. By then, enough time had elapsed for Saeko to regain her bearings. In fact, she behaved as though her life never was at risk of meeting a premature end, which by itself was a remarkable transformation.

"I think it may be better for Haruka and me to travel alone in our car, while the rest of you ride with Mizuno-sensei," Michiru offered. "We'll leave a few minutes before the rest of you."

"Well, if you do leave before us, we need some way to contact each other," Saeko said.

Michiru nodded and pulled her cell phone from her purse while Saeko did the same. "It's usually easier to call me since Haruka rarely answers the phone while driving, which is annoying but also a good thing at times." She passed a wry grin to the sandy-haired blonde, one that was answered by a nonchalant shrug.

The pair then exchanged phone numbers and saved them under aliases, an idea Usagi casually noted—with Kunzite's emphatic agreement—worked well for her in saving her family's life. In that way, if one or both phones were captured, the deception would help to prevent immediate detection of the relationship between Saeko and the outer senshi.

Saeko stood from her seat and started toward the back door. "Now that we have that done, we should hurry up and get out of here."

Haruka and Michiru placed the pair of rolling suitcases that belonged to Usagi and Ami into the trunk of their navy blue Lexus IS F. The latter had posited the logic that, if anything happened to the other group's car and yet they managed to survive and arrive at the subway, they would at least have clothing to wear in Kyoto. The remaining luggage was already stowed in Saeko's larger sedan, in which the other four humans and Luna would travel. Haruka's car pulled out of the driveway and into the street, headed toward Azabu-Juuban Station. It moved slower than she would have preferred as her partner instructed her to take a more deliberate pace. The car also turned in the direction opposite from that which would take them to the subway station. It was a diversionary move in case any more youmas decided to follow them.

"I think now is a good time for us to leave," Saeko said as she pushed the button on the car's instrument panel that resulted in a subsequent opening of the garage door.

The silver sedan backed out of the driveway and into the street. The driver turned one last wistful glance toward the stately house before directing the car down the street in the direction of the station. It was bittersweet as she knew it would have been the last time she would see the house for the foreseeable future. However, there were far more important things in her life than mere buildings. One of them sat beside her in the front passenger seat while the other slouched in the passenger-side rear seat. She didn't mind losing all of her worldly possessions and even more, so long as she could ensure the safety of her two most important people.


	2. New Plans

**2 | New Plans**

 _Dammit! How could it be?_ How _? When I was so… just so damned_ close _to my dream of eliminating that little bitch forever and having dear Endymion for myself? But… Ugh! Serenity the Sixth? Are you freaking kidding me?_

The squeaking of heavily padded cushions under Beryl's weight as she shifted and sank deeper into her chair paled in comparison to the frustrated sigh the woman breathed. A tremor rattled the room, clanking metal and wood against stone in resonant fury and nearly knocking a large fountain pen from its elevated perch to the floor. Though, in her foul mood, she paid it no mind. It was merely one of several small quakes that had occurred over the past few minutes.

 _I could have ended this, right then and there. I_ should _have done so, but I couldn't. They wouldn't let me._

Another sigh, followed by a derisive snort.

 _Figures my so-called prudence gets the better of me. Heh. Never again will I make that mistake._

Next to the precariously dangling pen sat a sheet of paper, upon which the self-proclaimed monarch had written out of existence one stumbling block to her desired success. Her gaze flicked towards that page and the rather large and ornate desk that held it.

 _Loyal as they are to me, I can't stomach the thought of them interfering at such a crucial time yet again._

Indeed, for the paper contained a draft of new standing orders she would give to her personal guards. That particular directive would allow her guards to heed her verbal commands so that she would not suffer a repeat of her previous indignity. Gone was the specific text within her previous order designed to prevent her from doing anything rash or unwise. If only she had disseminated her current orders far earlier, before that crucial battle.

Never mind that attacking Sailor Moon when it was crystal clear her energy blast had absolutely no effect on the senshi was the prime definition of both.

Even Beryl arrived at such a realization as she exhaled a deep breath and massaged her temples with her palms.

 _I mean… maybe I would have distracted those bitches long enough to pull them away, but beyond that… I was screwed. Completely_ fucking _screwed. How she got the better of me… how they managed to invade my domain… And now Kunzite and Zoisite are gone._

Another tremble, though whether it was the room or her she didn't quite know.

 _Gone. Two of my prized generals, and for what? Am I really supposed to leave all my plans and my eventual happiness in the hands of that blasted demon?_

Beryl had remained in the throne room long enough to see Usagi's attack slam into Kunzite and remove the general from her influence. In that regard he was as good as dead to her. Zoisite, on the other hand, actually was physically dead. The manner of his death was a mystery to her despite Sazaratha's insistence that it was a combined attack from the senshi that had led to the youngest Shitennou member's demise. She was skeptical of her remaining general's account of the events that took place after her departure, and much of that arose from her inherent distrust of the being she feared was more loyal to Metalia than to her. However, there wasn't much more she could do as Sazaratha was one of the few within her kingdom who were powerful enough to combat the senshi.

 _What should I do about that damned thing? Sure, it helped us to find the princess, but I'm not sure it did it for me. I'm not certain it's doing anything for me instead of for its own reasons, and what those reasons are I have no idea._

A sharp buzzing sound that resonated about the room interrupted her meditation. She shifted to her gaze to a small monitor on her desk that displayed a flashing red square enclosing the unshaven face of an older man. That face belonged to the commander of her personal guard, the only beings within her Dark Kingdom that she could fully trust at that moment. They were fiercely loyal to her even before her descent toward evil that was promoted by Metalia. The only problem was that they lacked sufficient magical skills to use telepathy, thus resigning them to the use of common technology such as the two-way video communication system that was begging for her attention. Taking one more deep breath, she trudged from her chair and to the desk where she could stop the annoying sound and speak with the man on the other side of the screen.

"What is it, Commander Marakof?"

"We found what was causing the disruptions at the north end of the complex." His tone carried a sense of urgency that was unusual for him. "It appears that the control room was demolished, thus allowing too much energy to flow to the development chambers."

 _I can only imagine that the senshi were behind that,_ she thought, pursing her lips into a slight frown at the news. _They must have figured out the purpose of the room. I only hope they don't learn the full extent of my plan, but with Kunzite on their side now it's only a matter of time before he reveals everything._

"What do you want me to do now, your highness?"

"Just return to your command post, and bring the others with you." Her apparent calm in the face of the news was in stark contrast to his apprehension. "There's nothing we can do about that right now. Instead we should focus on finding the princess and tracking her if at all possible. Get me an update on the status of the search."

"Aye, your highness. I will do that as soon as I can." He bowed before terminating the connection.

A pensive sigh escaped Beryl's lips as she returned to her chair and collapsed into its cushions. She had ordered the dispatch of ten youmas, specifically those creatures that could most accurately mimic humans, to scour the city for any trace of the princess. It was a risky maneuver on many levels, not the least of which concentrated on the fact that none of the youmas were able to sense the intrinsic energy of the princess but instead had to rely on visual cues. The probability of the girl traveling in such a conspicuous manner was exceedingly small. She remembered one of the last communications from Kunzite before his purification when he conveyed to her the argument he had with Sazaratha regarding the princess's identity. Apparently she had run into the girl but failed to identify her because the princess did not wear her typical hairstyle. That was when she did not have the benefit of being Sailor Moon, a situation unlikely to be repeated. No, this time the princess would be well hidden and well protected, especially given the arrival of new and completely unknown senshi.

 _Why am I doing all this when I know the princess most likely isn't anywhere in Tokyo? I just risk wasting time and making my efforts to locate the princess rather conspicuous when there are far larger concerns I should address—namely, what to do about Sazaratha. Should I allow it to command the youmas in gathering energy when I don't fully trust it and its loyalty clearly is elsewhere? The problem is I don't have anyone else to lead them, as Kunzite's gone, Nephrite and Zoisite are dead, and Jadeite is in eternal…_

At that moment she shot up from her chair as a sudden feeling of realization claimed her. That sensation led to the wry smile that spread across her lips as she knew what she could do to solve at least one of her problems.

 _Of course… Jadeite is in eternal sleep, which means he's not dead. I can revive him and have him work for me again. That way I know I have someone who is loyal, if nothing else, commanding part of my future army of youmas and I don't have to risk everything on Sazaratha._

Just as soon as the sense of euphoria arrived it departed with the recognition of two important facts. The first was that Jadeite was sentenced to eternal sleep due to his constant failures. However, that was the least of her concerns. Now that she had seen the senshi in person and witnessed with her own eyes how skillfully they worked, especially in the case of Sailor Moon, his propensity to grab defeat from the proverbial jaws of victory could be understood. Besides, the few months he spent in eternal sleep should have been sufficient motivation for him to want to succeed in his mission. It was the second fact that worried her far greater than the first: that Sazaratha indubitably would become extremely suspicious upon discovering that Jadeite was rescued from his prison and was working for Beryl again. If the demon indeed was untrustworthy, then it was very likely she would sabotage Jadeite's mission, or worse, try to kill the general.

 _I think that's what I'm going to do._ She lowered herself back into her chair. _However, I'm going to keep a very close eye on Sazaratha's behavior around Jadeite. If it looks like that demon's trying to do anything to interfere with his mission, then I'll have no choice but to dispose of it._

With that problem seemingly out of the way, she allowed her mind to wander to other issues, namely what her overall strategy would be to gain enough energy to revive Metalia. At that juncture she did not have enough youmas to spare for the task of gathering energy from humans. Fifty youmas were available to her, a sufficient number at first glance but for the crucial fact that only five of them were suited for siphoning energy. The remaining youmas were specialists at reconnaissance, such as creatures she had sent out to scour the city for any sign of the princess, or were better skilled at combat. Sending any of the five youmas out to retrieve energy would have resulted in their slaughter at the hands of the senshi. It didn't matter if all five were dispatched simultaneously, given Sailor Moon's amazing strength and the fighting skills of the three new senshi. She might have had better success if she tried such a strategy earlier in their campaign, when the senshi were a much weaker fighting force. However, she was convinced those girls were not a threat to her and had faith in Jadeite's capabilities to harness the energy in a rapid manner. Her experiences over the past several months eviscerated her previous hubris and grounded her. She would not take the senshi for granted ever again. Nay, her new strategy would account for them at all stages of its planning.

As comfortable as the chair felt and as much as she resisted wanting to leave it, she knew any realistic plan for combating the senshi and gaining critical energy would have to be constructed in the planning room. That was where all of the information the Dark Kingdom possessed about the girls was located and where she could easily work with the commanders of her personal guard if she deemed it necessary. And, given the immense complexity of the plan, it likely would be essential that the input of her trusted advisors would be requested. So she stood from the chair and walked into the middle of her room where, a second later, she disappeared in a brilliant flash of red light.

—|1| **2** |3|4|5|—

A frustrated groan escaped Minako's lips as she pushed the covers off her body and rolled out of her warm bed. Her eyes caught the narrow, bright gold rods that conspicuously stood out against the pale white background of her alarm clock. Their positions and angle relative to one another signified within her mind that it was late in the morning. Another second of staring gave her brain sufficient time to disambiguate the seemingly random arrangement of the clock hands and assemble the information into a pair of numbers: nine and forty-five. Nine forty-five in the morning, a time that was confirmed by the brilliant sunshine that reflected off the glass of her next-door neighbor's window and poured into her bedroom through the large casement, forcing the blonde to avert her eyes. If there was any good news for her, it was Sunday, meaning she did not have to go to school that day. However, none of those mundane details mattered to her at that time.

"I so wish I could see Usagi right now, just so I can tell her how sorry I am for everything I've done," she whispered. Gazing at the reflection in her dresser mirror, her countenance revealed a pitiful expression of dejection that expressed itself most readily through her almost lifeless eyes. "I don't know when I'll be able to see her again. I just hope I didn't drive her away through my stupidity." 

After a long time, she pulled herself away from the mirror and unceremoniously dropped her body into a seated position on the edge of her bed. The resulting loud thud broke through the silence that had dominated her room up to that point. Her eyes found and locked onto a blank space on her wall as she fell into an even deeper contemplative mood.

"What am I going to do to fix this mess I created?" She heaved a tired sigh. "I would go out after her, but I have no idea where she went. Not that I can blame her for not trusting me enough to tell me. I wouldn't tell anyone who tried to kill me where I was going either."

She fell backward onto her bed and stared blankly at the ceiling for several more minutes as silence once again filled the room. The worst part about the day was that she had nothing that she absolutely had to do. For normal schoolgirls of her age, it would have been an absolute joy to have the day free from schoolwork or chores. For her, she wished for anything at all to take her mind away from the intense melancholy that was her thoughts. Even worse was the fact that the only thing she wanted to do was to find her fellow blonde as quickly as possible and do everything within her power to beg for forgiveness. Clearly, that was not an option available to her.

Her gaze fell to where the snow-white cat normally would lie. "Artemis, what do you…" A sharp gasp soon pierced the room just prior to the reverberating crash that indicated her abrupt dismounting of her bed. "Artemis!"

She ducked to her knees and lifted the trailing sheets to peer beneath her bed, hoping against all logic that the feline would be hiding there. Indubitably, he was not. She then began to search her remainder of her room, starting with the closet. Why her advisor would hide from her in her closet she did not know or even care to question. In any case, it was a short-lived exploration as her mother barged into her room only a few seconds later.

"Aino Minako! Why are you making so much damned noise so early in the morning?" a visibly frustrated Akiko asked with a displeased tone.

Minako's anxiety made her oblivious to her mother's irritation. "Artemis! He's missing!"

"Serves you right. It's just like you to lose track of something so important."

That comment caused Minako to freeze in place as a wave of intense anger swept over her. "I didn't lose him."

"Well, he obviously isn't here. If you didn't lose him then he must have run off. Either way it just shows how irresponsible you are."

She bolted up from the floor to her feet. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, you have no sense of responsibility." Akiko pointed a finger at the girl, ignoring her daughter's fierce stare. "You have horrible grades because you spend so little time studying. There's no way you're going to have a decent career if you keep that up. You'll end up working some soul-deadening job just like your father, and _that's_ if you're lucky." She paused momentarily in her invective to intensify her glower at the fuming blonde. "Furthermore, you're always sneaking out of the house to go do God-knows-what. Don't think we haven't noticed that. I hope you're not running off to see some lame boy, because I swear if you are you'll be grounded 'til you're thirty!"

Minako desperately wanted to say something that she knew she would later regret, but smartly decided to remain silent while maintaining her brooding glare at the woman.

"Anyway, are you going to come down for breakfast or should I just make enough for your father and me?"

"It doesn't matter," Minako said in a brusque whisper, overruling the complaints of her stomach.

"Suit yourself." Akiko turned and walked out of Minako's bedroom. Before she turned to walk down the hall she abruptly stopped and turned her head over her shoulder. "If you'd just take my advice for what it is, things would be so much easier," she said with a tone bordering on pity.

"Whatever," Minako spat as she stomped to the door and slammed it shut, practically right in her mother's face. She then trudged to her bed and fell face down across it. Her body trembled in anger while tears of frustration and sadness flowed from her eyes and down her reddened cheeks.

 _Why does she always treat me like that?_ _Does she have no idea how much it hurts me when she says all those things? It's not like I can help having to leave at night to fight so that she can turn around and act like I'm a baby and a complete idiot. On top of all that, she didn't even bother trying to offer her help in finding Artemis, as if she expects me to fail at that the same way she practically expects me to fail at everything now._

She grabbed the pillow next to her and pulled it into her chest, hugging it so tightly that, if it possessed any life, it long ago would have been extinguished by her grasp. That was her state for several minutes as she let the frustration and resentment slowly die down so that she could somehow function well enough to perform her primary mission of the morning. That is, her mission beyond locating and supplicating Usagi to forgive her and accept her friendship once again. Once she no longer sensed the intense rage and depression that had immobilized her, she trudged from the bed and to her closet for some clothes prior to going out. She didn't much care to look for anything fancy to wear, as she wasn't doing much more than combing the streets for the cat she unceremoniously discarded the previous morning. How Artemis ended up in his predicament was a fact that did not escape her mind.

 _As much as I hate to think that, maybe she was somewhat right. It was my fault that Artemis is out there after all. I was the one who threw him out while I was blinded by my rage at Usagi._

She frowned as she reminisced about her abandonment of and the eventual assault upon her princess. In particular, she remembered the hateful words she spouted at the shocked cat as she evicted Artemis from the shrine and from the senshi. Her sullen expression was broken by the awkward and ironic chuckle that escaped her lips.

"He was right," she whispered. "I did end up making a huge mistake after all. And we all ended up suffering because of it."

She grabbed the large red bow that had become a staple of her fashion for many years and tied it into her long blond hair. It was customary for her to affix a bow to her hair, as she always felt naked in the absence of one, and although she didn't always wear red, the number of times she wore a different color over the past year could be counted on one hand. Whether the red bow really matched her other clothing was irrelevant to her so long as she had it and could feel it tugging ever so slightly on her hair.

 _Okay, Artemis, I'm going to find you, and I'm going to make up to you all the pain I put you through. I promise._

She grasped her purse and ran out of her room. She didn't bother telling her parents that she was going away, instead letting the heavy slam of the front door do the talking for her.

—|1|2| **3** |4|5|—

 _I wonder what they think happened in there. There's no sensible explanation I can create to explain away that kind of damage._

Those were Rei's thoughts as she walked toward the destroyed living room. It was an understatement to say the least. Beyond telling them the truth of her secret identity and of her capture by Kunzite and that strange woman, nothing she could say would surpass any reasonable skepticism. Even for people accustomed to sensing and manipulating enhanced spiritual energy, the idea they would believe she was one of the mythical senshi and wielded magical attacks seemed farfetched in her mind. Ironically, the Dark Kingdom—the beings from who she wanted to conceal her identity more than anyone else—already knew she was the senshi of fire. So, she felt that, if she were under sufficient pressure to provide an explanation, she would reveal the secret she held for so long.

She strolled into the living room and immediately froze when her eyes witnessed the enormity of the scene. For the first time she could see just how horribly the fight had damaged the place and the extent of hard work that was required to make the room livable again. Yuuichirou was busy pushing the shattered remnants of the large central table against one wall. It was a rather heavy and sturdy piece of furniture by all accounts, and woefully expensive at that. Yet it was utterly destroyed by the energy blasts from Kunzite and his terrifying female partner. The same could be said about the other furniture that was haphazardly strewn about the room. None of the chairs had all of their legs attached, and one had its back completely sheared off as though it was deliberately and expertly removed with a saw. Almost everything was scorched, the blatant sign of fire damage, although there was no smoke damage or water damage from any attempt to extinguish flames. She spotted her grandfather sweeping the pale white debris from the cratered wall into a sizable pile in a different corner of the room. That damage clearly was created when Minako and she were blasted into the wall at the very beginning of the woefully one-sided battle.

Yuuichirou's eyes widened when he noticed the shrine maiden enter the room. "Ah, Rei-san! You're up!"

"It's this bad, isn't it?" Her dismal tone barely revealed the true depth of her sorrow.

He slowly walked toward her. "It's much better now than it was when we first saw the room this morning."

"It almost looks like you girls had a party that went way out of control," her grandfather said as humorously as he could manage, although his scowl told a different tale.

Her face, if not her entire body, screamed utter remorse when she turned toward the older man. "I'm sorry. This damage is all my fault and you guys shouldn't have to clean up behind me."

"There's no way you could fix all of this yourself," Yuuichirou said gently. "Besides, I'm more than willing to help you."

Her cheeks faintly reddened and progressively darkened to a deep crimson as she gazed at the priest-in-training. A similar blush was present on his face from the moment he saw her enter the room. They stood in silence and just stared at one another for a few moments before they were brought to reality by the hard rap of a broom handle against the floor.

"Anyway… so what actually happened in here?" His tone, though gruff, reflected curiosity more than irritation despite the expensive devastation.

The color faded from Rei's visage upon hearing the question. She hesitated in answering for a few moments, turning her sullen eyes away from her grandfather and at the wall beside her. When she finally did speak, it was in a voice no louder than a whisper.

"I… I strongly doubt you'd believe me if I told you."

He heaved a frustrated sigh and slowly walked up to his granddaughter. "I'm not angry at you. I just want to know what's going on."

"I know. I…"

Her violet eyes slowly shifted from the elder man to Yuuichirou and back as she pondered what she should say. She was reluctant to give the confession she truly wanted to reveal, but it did not take her long to realize there was no point in holding the secret much longer. She held a deep breath for a second to calm her intense anxiety before slowly exhaling and looking at her the two men with eyes that revealed a new sense of determination.

"What I'm about to say may sound crazy, but I swear every word of it is true." Her hand slowly slipped into her pocket where the transformation pen was stored.

"Go on," her grandfather urged with a sharp nod of his head. Yuuichirou prompted her to continue by giving a similar nod.

"The reason the room is a mess is because there was a large fight in here." Her resolve slowly grew, even if the volume of her voice did not. "A battle, actually… one that involved the senshi."

"The Sailor Senshi?" Yuuichirou's initial emotions of awe and disbelief soon shifted to concern as he remembered, vaguely, the last time there was a strange occurrence at the shrine. "Are you okay? What happened? Did anything try to hurt you? Because, if so, they're as good as dead if I ever see them."

Hearing his enthusiastic expression of concern caused the ferocious blush to return to Rei's cheeks. "For the most part I'm fine, Yuuichirou-san. I wouldn't recommend hunting them down as you probably wouldn't be able to find them. Revenge is also out of the question. As thoughtful and brave as you are, I don't think you'll have any better luck fighting them as I had."

"Wait, you tried to fight against those monsters?" her grandfather asked in dismay. "Why would you do that if the senshi were around?"

Rei took one last glance at her esteemed grandfather before she pulled the transformation pen from her pocket and held it over her head.

"Mars power, make up!"

A brilliant red light emanated from her body and enveloped her figure, forcing the pair to shield their eyes from its blinding intensity. Seconds later, the radiance diminished to the point where they could peek over their arms and witness the result of the magnificent transformation. Silence enveloped both men for the several moments they stared with gaping eyes at the figure that formerly was to one a precious young granddaughter and to the other the singular love of his life. Rei Hino no longer was there, as far as they could sense. In her place was the remarkable senshi of flame and passion, Sailor Mars. Yet, she was about to remind them that, despite her alternate identity as one of the enigmatic senshi, she very much was the girl they held so highly in their hearts. The only difference between their previous perception and her reality was the massive weight of the secrets she so painfully harbored.

"I'm sorry that I didn't let you know about this earlier, grandpa." Her tone was as low and morose as the gaze she levelled at the floor.

The aged man wrapped his arms around Rei and pulled her into a tender hug. "I'm glad that you finally decided to remove the tremendous burden from your soul of keeping such a large secret. I knew there was something special about you ever since your father dropped you off here. I consulted the great fire many times wondering about what made you so extraordinary, but I wasn't sure what the answer I continuously received meant."

"W-what did you see in the fire?"

"I was a symbol that I later discovered to be the sign of the planet Mars. The whole thing was a mystery to me before today. I didn't even contemplate the possibility that the fire was telling me you were Sailor Mars." He began to chuckle. "However, now that I look at you, it makes perfect sense. I'm surprised I couldn't figure it out sooner. There's no way that utterly beautiful senshi-in-red could have been anyone other than my lovely granddaughter."

Rei briefly smiled and began to giggle, but her moment of levity ended woefully too soon when she reflected on her life as a senshi.

"There's so much I need to tell both of you," she whispered. The tears she desperately tried to hide from their sympathetic gazes fell unabatedly. "So much about what I had gone through as a senshi. So much about the horrible mistakes I've made. I just don't know if I'm strong enough to do so right now."

There was no doubting his soothing tone when he wrapped his arms around his granddaughter yet again. "I won't force you to say anything more until you're ready."

She carefully pushed herself away from the hold of one man she deeply loved so that she could approach the other man who held similar consideration within her heart. For so long she was too afraid to express her true feelings. In one part of her mind it was the fear that he would reject her that prevented her from acting. Another part warned her of the possibility of incredible heartache if her identity as Sailor Mars inadvertently led to their separation or, worse, his death at the hands of a vengeful enemy. However, there was no more practical reason to delay what she knew she had to do, and no worse sadness than that which she currently was experiencing.

"There's more that I want to tell you to, Yuuichirou-san," she said as she fell into his chest. He placed one arm around her waist and the other over her shoulders, ostensibly to steady her. However, he was pulled into a tight embrace when Rei wrapped her arms around his back. She contemplated saying the three words she knew she wanted to vocalize, but she opted to let her actions and expressions speak for her. Somehow it appeared that the often dense Yuuichirou immediately understood precisely what she meant but failed to say as he pulled her into a tighter yet unmistakably gentle and affectionate hug.

"I know," he whispered with a brief pause elapsing before he added, "And I'll be here when you're ready to tell me."

Rei nodded as she slowly released her hold of the tall man. She had every intention of fulfilling the unspoken promise made that morning to confess to him, and sooner rather than later. The only thing that prevented her—besides her nosy grandfather's presence—was the overwhelming sensation that it was only proper for her to first inform a certain pigtailed blonde about her sincere feelings of sorrow, regret, loyalty, and, yes, love.

—|1|2|3| **4** |5|—

Maeda Yuko skipped purposefully down the street, her mid back-length strawberry red hair bouncing with every step. The sixteen-year-old girl's wide crystalline blue eyes and large smile broadcasted a sense of serenity and joviality. Being in such happy mood, she gave a friendly wave and warm greeting to practically every random neighbors she encountered. For her, such gregariousness was business as usual. On the other hand, the cat with gorgeous white fur she gently cradled within her arms as she proceeded along her path was completely new. She had a fondness for all animals, but she strongly preferred dogs to cats, and everyone familiar with her knew it. So, she attracted some inquisitive glances by holding the cat, but nobody really gave the thought any more attention.

About a minute later she arrived at the front entrance of her destination. A few loud knocks on the rather lightweight door alerted the home's occupants of an unexpected visitor, and the door slowly opened to reveal a middle-aged woman with dark-blue hair tied into a low ponytail. She smiled, which made the woman smile almost autonomously in response.

"Hello, Aino-san. How are you doing this wonderful afternoon? Is Minako-san home?" Yuko asked.

"I'm doing quite well, Maeda-san," Akiko replied. Her smile widened before suddenly faltering. "Minako's out right now. She's been gone all day since this morning, actually. I have no idea where she went, but I assume she's looking for her cat."

"Would this be the cat she's looking for?" Yuko carefully lifted the sleeping white cat out from her chest.

Akiko mumbled something inaudible while she looked over the still body of the feline. She exhaled a tiny gasp once she recognized the strange crescent moon shape on the animal's forehead.

"Yes, that's definitely her cat. Where did you find it? And how did you know it was missing in the first place?"

"I passed by her earlier this morning when I was going out shopping." Yuko grinned while lightly patting the cat's head. "I asked her what she was doing, as she looked all out of sorts crawling behind some bushes. It actually looked kinda funny now that I think about it, but please don't tell her that I said that, okay?" She gave a sly wink that elicited a humorous chuckle from Akiko. "Anyway, she told me she was looking for her pet cat and she told me all about what it looked like. I told her that if I see him I'll certainly try to bring him back to her, and I did see him just wondering around the outside of the market as I was leaving. He looked a bit hungry so I brought him home with me and gave him something to eat and some water. Once I saw he was doing better I came here to give the cat back to Minako." She then stroked Artemis's head and back before gently dropping the cat into Akiko's waiting arms.

"Thank you very much, and I'm very glad you found him. Whenever she gets back I'll let Minako know that you found him." She paused momentarily while petting the white cat. "Well, now that you're here, would you mind staying for a little tea or something?"

Yuko pouted. "I wish I could, Aino-san, but I have to hurry back home."

"That's too bad. Anyway, if you see her on your way back, could you please let her know that and tell her to come home?"

"Absolutely, Aino-san!" Yuko turned to leave, energetically waving as she walked. "I hope you have a nice evening!"

"The same for you!"

Yuko walked away from the house and proceeded a few blocks down the street until finding an alley between two buildings. With a quick check to ensure nobody was paying attention to her, she ducked into the alley. A wry smile graced her lips as her body began to emit a pale golden light. In an instant the girl disappeared, replaced by nothing more than a faint wisp of black smoke.

—|1|2|3|4| **5** |—

Beryl's eyes narrowed as she scanned a large political map of the country of Japan that was displayed on one of the monitors that lined the wall of the planning room. A second screen showed a detailed satellite map of Minato ward. Several red arrows gave the locations where youmas previously were sent into action, either to gather energy or to attack the senshi. With very few exceptions the arrows were clustered within Juuban district. At the time, it made perfect sense to attack within a very confined area, as their pre-conflict analysis showed that the region contained the most energy. However, there was a fatal flaw in their methodology, as their scans could only cover large areas and could not disambiguate different types of energy. What she currently knew and appreciated, and what she wished she knew before commencing her initial plans, was that the reason their scans detected extremely high amounts of energy in Juuban was because that was the home of the Sailor Senshi. Otherwise, the location was no more interesting than any other city on Earth. If she was going to have any success at gathering energy, it would have to be in a different location. Better, it would have to be in several different locations. However, two important details had to be addressed by her new plan. The first was where to deploy her youmas. The second was how to actually get them there.

 _I wish it was as simple as ordering a youma to a location and then having it teleport there. However, only a few of the youmas have that capability._

Indeed, in the Dark Kingdom's previous attacks the youmas were brought alongside the Shitennou.

 _It will be easier with Jadeite's return, but he would have to get a feel for the countryside first as he can't just teleport anywhere. That would limit any attacks to only a small radius outside of Tokyo._

She pressed a button on the keypad that caused the map of Minato to zoom out so that it displayed the eastern twenty-three wards of Tokyo Prefecture. A second button press caused a series of concentric circles to appear with the center immediately over Juuban. According to the map's scale, the innermost ring had a diameter of four kilometers and each successive circle was two kilometers larger in radius than the last. She intently stared at the map for a few seconds before sighing in frustration.

 _I guess it will take Jadeite or the teleportation-capable youmas some time to become familiar with the few wards that surround Minato, let alone this entire prefecture. I can imagine that it would take one or two weeks of intense study for them to learn their layouts well enough to find appropriate places to teleport. That means it will take a few months to learn all of the wards, and I'm not sure I have that much time._

She leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes. It was quite difficult to come up with an interim plan that would allow her to achieve some progress toward reviving Metalia while awaiting complete development of her remaining youmas. A small grin pulled at her lips when she came across one epiphany.

 _Maybe if we just concentrate on specific areas in those wards it would greatly reduce the amount of time early on, and then if they need to expand from there they can do so on the fly. We could use those areas as bases for transport to and from the Dark Kingdom. This way, I think it would take a week, maybe less, to become sufficiently familiar with these areas._

Once that issue was resolved in her mind, she then switched her focus to finding the regions she would initially position her five energy-gathering youmas. She recognized that was the most critical part of her plan, and she intended to make sure that whatever she created would have some reasonable chance of success against the senshi. Given the uncanny propensity for those girls to arrive and disrupt any attempt at obtaining human life force at the most inopportune times, her first course of action was to devise some mode of defense against the senshi. That meant a thorough review of the youmas she had available.

 _I need some way to keep those five youmas safe. I could try sending a few combat-oriented youmas to accompany each of them, but that leads to the question of how to hide their presence. Those youmas by far are the strongest of the lot but are incapable of disguising themselves as humans. The last thing I want to do is make a spectacle of things and draw even more attention to my plans._

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it as that last sentence caused her to stop and think harder about potential strategies. One of her goals was to work as clandestinely as possible. Having the larger, more powerful, but immediately identifiable youmas work in the open was the antithesis to that goal.

 _Maybe… maybe instead of having those youmas immediately available, I could have them on stand-by and have the reconnaissance youmas accompany them. If anything goes wrong, then they could alert me, or more likely Jadeite, and he could send the other youmas in to assist in the fight. Better yet, I could create a distraction using some of the non-energy-gathering youmas that would draw the senshi away from where their main focus should be pointed._

She turned her eyes back to the map of Tokyo Prefecture displayed on the monitor. Minato had been the focus of the fight since its inception, but it was obvious she needed to shift the battlefield away from that ward. The two wards that caught her eye were Adachi and Katsushika. They were relatively distant from Minato, which meant they were not heavily visited by the senshi. That distance also meant that it would take the girls much more time to travel to the scene of any youma attack. The idea that they might not learn of the attacks if her youmas were careful briefly entered her mind but was quashed by the knowledge and realization that those annoying warriors always appeared. The only thing she could do was to mitigate the amount of damage they could do to her forces.

 _Kunzite saw that it only takes them a few minutes to travel across the entirety of Juuban, so it should take them at least thirty minutes to respond to any alert of a youma's presence in those wards. Given that the senshi will be under constant surveillance, that should give Jadeite and me advance warning of their arrival. Then we could remove our most important assets and either set up an ambush for the senshi or just completely disappear._

Her sharp nod expressed her satisfaction with that initial plan. Her grander goal was to use the newly acquired youmas to attack over the whole of Japan, or maybe even beyond the borders of that island nation, to gather energy as quickly as possible for Metalia. Once that ancient being was revived she could use its power to build what she considered her real kingdom. However, that was in the distant future. What she needed to do in the present was release the first of the Shitennou from his prison so that he could be available to her once again. She quickly stood from her chair and prepared to teleport to the throne room to do exactly that, feeling the first genuine sense of enthusiasm since the princess's capture and near-elimination.


	3. An Old Fellow and a Radically New Path

**3 | An Old Fellow and a Radically New Path**

Beryl slowly walked through the heavily damaged throne room toward the obsidian, crystal-swathed throne. She was forced to withdraw from the chamber during the battle by her zealous guards and failed to witness the full extent of the destruction that occurred there. Everywhere she turned her eyes she could see extensive cracks snake their ways through the wall, floor, and ceiling. A depression in the floor marked the position the princess stood when the Silver Crystal made its first appearance since the hated regal was revealed to her and anyone willing to pay attention to be the alter-ego of Sailor Moon. Another crater in the wall of the elevated platform indicated an unfortunate person's forceful collision with that solid surface. Fortunately, the chair itself was unharmed, thus allowing her to sit while she performed the spell that would free Jadeite from the tortuous prison of Eternal Sleep. There was no doubt that another explosion of similar ferocity to the one that extruded the crystal from the princess's body would have spelled the end of that room. Once she had performed her task she planned to order the start of a massive rebuilding effort.

The throne itself was nowhere close to as comfortable as the chair that resided within her personal chambers, but it was perfectly located to maximize her usage of the fundamental Dark Energy that emanated from the ethereal being in the adjacent room. That knowledge always helped to assuage the pain that typically resulted from long stays in the throne. Furthermore, if everything worked for her as planned, she wouldn't have to sit in that hard and unforgiving seat for longer than a few minutes. Firm in that mindset she plopped into the stone chair and held outward the dark violet sphere that sat atop the gnarled finger-like extensions of the wood staff. Her eyes automatically closed shut as she concentrated the sum of her mental focus on locating the dimension within which she banished the crystal-encased Jadeite. A low rumble that shook the chamber and displaced more of the façade from the wall denoted the successful discovery of the frozen general.

 _Fortunately, that did not take very long._ The vibrations she felt through her seat prompted her smirk. _All I have to do now is the far trickier part of reversing the spell._

And trickier it was, indeed. If she failed in the slightest bit to reverse the initial effects of sentencing Jadeite to eternal sleep, then her sole loyal general would be lost to her. The main pitfall was correctly restarting the vital functions of his organs, especially his brain, all of which indubitably were suspended as a consequence of his extended stasis. She had to ensure that all of them started simultaneously and worked properly, which meant administering a very precise amount of dark energy. Providing insufficient energy would kill him as a number of his organs would remain shut down, whereas dispensing too much energy when he was in such a vulnerable state would destroy his body. If there were a set guideline for reversing the effects of eternal sleep, particularly for the amount of energy required to achieve the goal, she would have been immensely grateful. However, the punishment was termed "eternal sleep" for the exact reason of its permanence, and she was the only person she could recall who attempted to undo eternity. Nevertheless, she had to act quickly upon releasing Jadeite's body from the crystal as any delay would only complicate her task.

A brilliant flash of white light revealed the general's immobile body and his countenance of outright horror. She imperceptibly flinched when she noticed the expression, feeling the slightest tinge of remorse at knowing that it represented the last thing he remembered: immense fear of her and her power. That reaction sharply contrasted with the unmitigated fury she felt when she condemned Jadeite to eternal sleep for his repeated failures. She knew that it was a rash decision to eliminate a loyal general in such a callous fashion, but her personality at the time contributed to such injudicious behavior. Time and experience had taught her to be more thoughtful.

Deep furrows formed across her brow as she studied the crystal more intently. A low-pitched hum escaped her lips, but it was too soft to extend beyond her own range of hearing. That was her state as she calculated to the best of her ability the amount of energy she needed to expend to break the crystal and, more importantly, the amount required to resuscitate the figure within. Once the translucent surface was punctured she would have mere seconds to begin the process before death took him.

 _For your sake, and for mine, I really hope this works._

Her anxiety was palpable when she initiated the process, filling the room with a bright red light that emanated from the orb. Deep fissures almost immediately began to appear within the crystal as the crimson waves of dark energy bombarded its exterior. A second later saw its reduction to mere shards, resulting in the sudden collapse to the floor of the formerly imprisoned Jadeite. She increased the amount of energy she poured into the staff to the point his body became swathed by a faint red halo of light. What that exactly meant she did not know, but given the gargantuan sums that she was feeding the general she assumed it was a sign of his slow revival. She poured ever more energy into the general's prone figure until the red aura shifted to dark violet and his body started to convulse uncontrollably. The meaning there was blatantly obvious, and it prompted her unconscious wince as well as her immediate and very deliberate reduction in the amount of energy she sent him. Despite her palpable stress and mounting physical and mental exhaustion she maintained that extremely high expenditure of energy for two full minutes. That was the amount of time required for the red light to shift to gold and for a small groan in a pitch much deeper than hers to find its way to her ears. She immediately stopped after that, fearing inadvertent harm to him in an attempt to further rejuvenate the man. Merely reviving him was her initial task, and at that she had been eminently successful.

He continued to lie on his back atop the hard, cold floor, but he was alive and in far better condition than he displayed only minutes before. His breaths were ragged and shallow as expected from not having used his lungs for so long. There were no symptoms of paralysis, although movement beyond tiny waggles of his fingers and his feet would have been impossible for several more hours. They were encouraging signs to the queen that carefully hovered over his body.

"Welcome back, Jadeite." Her words were delivered with uncharacteristic tenderness for a person sadistic enough to doom him to such a terrible fate in the first place. His initial expression of terror concurred with the sentiment.

"Y-your… ma-majesty…" he feebly whispered. It would take several more minutes for his voice to fully recover.

She shook her head. "Don't push yourself, Jadeite, as you're too weak right now. You need to rest and regain your energy before you do anything else. I'll take you to your personal quarters so you can do exactly that."

That statement utterly surprised the general, and in a way it also surprised the very woman who spoke those words. Under normal circumstances she would never make such an offer to a subordinate as she believed would damage her appearance as an assertive leader who commanded fear and respect. Furthermore, she was far too prideful to allow what essentially was a role reversal. However, she was forced to take the initiative in the absence of anyone else capable of quickly transporting the weakened man to his room. She bent to her knees and gently lowered a hand to his shoulder. A moment later the two had disappeared from the throne room in a bright flash of red and gold light.

—|1| **2** |3|—

Four hours had passed since Jadeite had been placed atop the atypically firm mattress that composed the surface of his bed by the one individual who he never would have anticipated performing such a task. It was at that precise time the rejuvenated man opened his eyes and welcomed the images of his poorly illuminated chamber for the first time in months. His mind still contained the memory of his personal room, of the darkened corridors, of his sacred queen, and of his hated adversaries. Considering everything that had elapsed during his forced absence those recollections were positively ancient, but they helped him navigate his way through the initial stages of his new existence.

He swung his legs off the side of the bed so that his bare feet touched the cold stone floor and energetically pushed himself off the mattress and into a standing position. The cold sensation running up his legs and to his brain didn't bother him. In a way, it satisfied him to know that he could feel something as mundane as sharp physical pain, as it was infinitely superior to the numbness that came with Eternal Sleep. He saw his boots sitting at the side of his bed but ignored them. There would be plenty of time to put them on later. For the moment, he merely enjoyed the feeling of… feeling. However, his attention suddenly was captured by something he saw that conflicted with the last image he remembered of his quarters. The granite table at the center of the room was familiar to him, but the yellow envelope sitting near the edge of the round surface was not. He cautiously approached the table and the object obliquely resting on its smooth surface, intently studying it and, perhaps, attempting to gauge its contents without touching it. After a few seconds he reasoned that it would not harm him to pick it up.

He broke the seal of the heavy manila and spread across the table the several documents and sets of photographs that were contained within. The pictures were of five young girls in total, of which three of the individuals immediately were familiar to him. His initial reaction was one of extreme irritation and rage, but that was quickly surpassed by shame and regret. Those three girls, the Sailor Senshi, were the bane of his existence and the root cause of his lengthy and excruciating punishment. That the photographs were taken of the girls in their civilian guises did not surprise him as he had learned their identities prior to what was to have been his final action with the Dark Kingdom. What piqued his attention was that there were two other girls, two more senshi that he never had the unfortunate luck to encounter. Indubitably that would change given his resurrection, and at some point in the future he knew he would meet them in person, but at that juncture the mere thought of more adversaries enraged him.

His attention shifted to the short stack of documents that were neatly bound together by a large clip. At the top of the stack was a letter penned by Commander Marakof explaining that the pile was a short summary of the comprehensive set of information the Dark Kingdom possessed regarding the senshi. The obvious intent of the package was for him to spend the requisite time to review the reports and become informed of the latest developments so that he could return to being a valuable member of the kingdom. Naturally, he was instructed—or rather, _advised_ —that he should expend as much time as he sensed he needed to examine the information, yet be cautious of taking too much time. He removed the clip and set the cover letter aside, unable to suppress the sardonic chuckles that accompanied the act.

 _I guess this is better than nothing when it comes to saying welcome back._

The next page immediately stunned and silenced him as it contained a brief description of all of the known senshi—all _eight_ of them. There were only five girls whose photographs in both senshi and civilian forms were present upon the table, but the document explicitly listed eight. The three missing senshi effectively were complete unknowns to them, as they were only identified by the term "Unknown Senshi" and a number. The authors of the report listed some basic knowledge about them, what little they could glean from the short and chaotic battle, such as the fact all three of them seemingly were older than the established senshi and likely were members of the group known as the Outer Senshi. Apparently, they were unable to match any single woman to a particular senshi identity, thus preventing him from learning what to call them should he ever see them during a mission. Otherwise, those few lines represented the sum of all data the Dark Kingdom held on those three.

Conversely, there were multitudes of pages dedicated to illustrating every known aspect of the lives of the guardian senshi. Some of the information was utterly superfluous, such as their favorite subjects in school, but the vast majority of it was essential to his mission and, beyond that, an astonishing revelation about their surveillance capabilities. He had no idea they had the ability to obtain so much intelligence about the normally secretive warriors. Granted, the big break that allowed their bonanza of information was a slip that occurred during a tense moment in the relationship between the senshi, an incident that was described in glorious detail in the report. However, the opening was exploited to its maximum extent upon its creation, and that fact made him quite proud.

He brought a small wooden chair closer to the table so that he could sit in relative comfort as he pored over the documents for about an hour, using a lamp on the table to provide essential light to make the reading somewhat less strenuous. During that time, he learned that many interesting events and surprises had occurred while he was away. One fair bit of news was that Sailor Moon was Princess Serenity, which initially shocked him but upon deeper consideration he considered it painfully obvious, if not embarrassingly so. Intriguingly, she was not a reincarnation of a form from the past life, unlike her fellow senshi, but a completely separate and modern princess. Again, that was reasonable given the absence of Sailor Moon during the Silver Millennium. Another thing he discovered was that the rapport between the girls had significantly degraded over the course of a few months. That was due to the mistaken idea held by the senshi that their princess and Sailor Moon were separate individuals, and that Usagi Tsukino, the civilian identity of Sailor Moon, was not and could not have been their princess. Any sense of amity had disintegrated to the point of Usagi's guardians breaking their friendships with her and, at one point, attempting to kill her in order to obtain her transformation brooch. That joyous concept brought a fleeting yet tremendous smile to his lips. The later report within the pile that described the battle between the senshi and the Shitennou eviscerated that smile, for not only was Sailor Moon far more powerful and skilled than he recalled, but one of the generals was killed and another turned to their side.

 _So… that means I'm now the last of the Shitennou. All of the hard work they did to ensure the advent of the rightful Kingdom of Earth will go to waste if I fail at my mission._ His gaze turned steely as it focused on a distant wall of his room. _However, I will not fail this time, for my fate will be far worse than Eternal Sleep if that happens. Furthermore, I cannot allow the senshi the satisfaction of knowing that they've beaten us, the greatest warriors of this planet, if not this solar system, so easily. Once we raise Metalia and build our kingdom, I will ensure that the senshi receive the appropriate punishment for their resistance, especially for killing Zoisite._

He then started to peruse the summarization of the Dark Kingdom's newest plan to gather energy by means of a massive army of youmas when something abruptly disrupted his attention. From the corner of his eye he witnessed the large screen that composed a section of the communication system briefly light up before displaying the bearded face of Commander Marakof. The fact that Jadeite didn't bother to look toward the display failed to detract the man from addressing him over the speaker.

"General Jadeite, I'm glad to see that you're awake and that you found the information we left for you."

"A lot has happened while I was sentenced to Eternal Sleep," Jadeite replied with a tone of nonchalance, although a slight bit of petulance could be detected.

"That is true, sir. However, we're well on the way to rectifying that situation with our current plan."

"I assume you're talking about the youmas. I'm reading about it right now. If nothing else, it's a fairly… _ambitious_ plan."

"Do keep in mind you were liberated from Eternal Sleep specifically to lead this force of youmas. It's a sign that Beryl has confidence in you," Marakof stated more forcefully.

Jadeite felt a wave of anger wash over him. "I am aware of it and I fully appreciate that she thinks so highly of me. I only wish that she had chosen a less extreme method of punishing my past failures, especially given that all of them were due to the unforeseen meddling of the senshi in our plans."

"Beryl is a lot calmer now than she was at that time, and I'm sure that when you speak with her later that she will be more understanding of that fact."

"I got that feeling when she freed me from that crystal." His irritation had since subsided, replaced by feelings of frustration and resignation that caused him to sigh loudly. "So, what is the purpose of this call, might I ask?"

"In fifteen minutes we're meeting in the planning room to discuss the new strategy for gathering energy while hopefully mitigating any response from the senshi."

Jadeite reached into his jacket pocket and removed a large gold pocket watch. Unfortunately, it had stopped working the moment Beryl, in her fit of rage, encased him within the crystal that served as his tomb for several months. At some point in the near future he would need to repair the watch and adjust the time so that once again it would be useful to him. In the interim he would be forced to rely on the clock hanging on his wall that was set to Japan standard time and currently showed a time of thirty minutes before midnight. That was less of an inconvenience, however, as it meant that he knew when the senshi likely would be active. Given the displayed time the girls should have been sound asleep.

"I will be there. I am curious about whatever plan you guys have constructed that somehow accounts for the omnipresent senshi."

"The crux of the strategy came from Beryl. It's useless to go into too much detail right now, given we're going to be spending much more time talking about it shortly. However, I do believe it's a necessary departure from our typical methods, and I predict you will be quite intrigued."

"I certainly hope so," Jadeite said somberly. "If there's anything that needs to be changed around here, it's that."

"Anyway, I'll leave you to your reading. I'll alert you again when the meeting is due to start." Marakof's face soon disappeared and the screen turned dark.

Jadeite shifted his eyes back to the papers and the photographs strewn across his table and returned to his task of gaining a far better appreciation of his opponents. The idea of a new strategy energized him beyond the fact that he was resurrected from his tomb of Eternal Sleep. However, he couldn't help but wonder, if only briefly, whether the queen's direct participation in the planning stages was a benefit or a hindrance to their chances of success.

 _I guess having her involved really can't be much of a bad thing, considering what came beforehand,_ he mused while giving a wry grin to nobody in particular.

—|1|2| **3** |—

Jadeite's intuition told him that it would have been a terrible idea to teleport directly into the planning room. It was right. As soon as he opened the door to the relatively small chamber he was greeted with the sight of thirteen men and women in steel blue uniforms, the typical garb of Beryl's personal guard. Seven of the individuals stood in rather close proximity along the wall opposite the trio of monitors that hung from the ceiling, a consequence of the room being designed for a much smaller number of people. The other six occupied the chairs at the sides of the long table, leaving open the chairs at either end, presumably for Jadeite and Beryl. Commander Marakof immediately was recognizable from his large stature—at six feet and three inches, he was the tallest person in the room—and the red trim of his jacket. Had he possessed much greater skill at handling magical energy he might have been one of the Shitennou, but the abilities Jadeite enjoyed were extraordinarily rare.

"I'm glad to see you've made it here, and that you arrived early as usual," Marakof said with a welcoming tone and a slow nod of his head as he and the other seated members of Beryl's guard stood at attention in deference to the general.

He returned the nod and walked to the seat furthest from the door, one of only two left vacant. The few lucky enough and sufficiently ranked to have a chair took his action as a cue to sit, whereas the others had no choice but to remain standing.

"Welcome back, General Jadeite." The dark-haired woman who addressed him wore a silver-trimmed jacket, one that indicated her rank as a major.

"Thank you, Analiese." Although she was the only one to explicitly say so, he could tell from the pleased expressions of everyone within the room that they shared her sentiments. "By the way, congratulations on your promotion," he quickly added, drawing a light smile from the woman in return.

"With the current leadership situation, it's possible she may be seeing another promotion soon," Marakof nonchalantly stated. "As it stands right now, we have a dearth of individuals in key positions for our new strategy."

"I see. That may make sense, but at the same time we don't want to make our forces top-heavy."

"I can assure you that you describe an unlikely situation. We only have two generals right now. Sazaratha, a demon—in both senses of the word—who originally was one of Metalia's assistants, was recently promoted to the rank of general."

That revelation immediately piqued Jadeite's curiosity. "Why was this Sazaratha promoted?"

"We were short-handed in the number of people who were as skilled as you and the other Shitennou members in handling dark energy, teleportation, and wrangling youmas. It, or rather _she_ , given her proclivity for assuming a female form, was the only one alive at the time who possessed those crucial capabilities."

"I understand. But, if that's the case, why isn't she here at this meeting?" One of his eyebrows reflexively lifted in response to his confusion.

Marakof gave his superior a curt nod of understanding. "Quite frankly, Beryl doesn't completely trust her, for good reason, and didn't want her to attend. Furthermore, as far as any of us could tell she's not even here at the moment. It's anybody's guess what she's up to right now."

"Hmmm… well, that certainly can be an issue."

"Anyway, you inquired about our force structure. We're rearranging the upper echelon of our command structure to fit our new mission, and the thirteen people you see in this room will be directly involved in that."

Although he knew everyone sitting and standing within the chamber quite well, Jadeite slowly turned his head to look at each of the officers. "It seems like a fairly risky move."

"It very well might be, but I'm prepared to make such a change." Nobody needed to turn to the doorway to see that the voice responsible for delivering such a bold statement belonged to Beryl. Given her identity, however, no one wasted any time in standing erect and bowing deeply in the direction of their queen.

"You may be seated," she calmly ordered as she approached the unoccupied chair and sat down. Upon noticing the seven guards still standing at the side of the room she shook her head in disappointment. "I guess at some point in the future we're going to need to find or build a larger room for this, but that is for later. Right now we're here to discuss our new strategy for obtaining energy for Metalia in a rapid and efficient manner, hopefully with minimal interference from the senshi. However, before we begin, I'm going to seal this room so that our conversation remains private."

Beryl then waved her hand in a sweeping arc in front of her body, temporarily filling the room with a dim red light. The glow soon dissipated, leaving no visible sign that anything had changed, but the queen's contented smile informed everyone that whatever she did must have worked.

"There. Now, nobody can eavesdrop on our meeting or, worse, teleport into the room, or into any of your personal quarters for that matter." She then gazed at the general sitting at the opposite end of the table, and any hint of arrogance soon disappeared from her countenance. "There's much I want to discuss, but I think my first order of business would be to extend an official apology on the part of the Kingdom, as well as my personal apology, to Jadeite for my rash decision to sentence him to Eternal Sleep."

"I fully accept your apology, your highness, and I'm quite honored to be back and working for you."

"And I'm glad to have you back," she said with a light smile that momentarily stunned the blond-haired man.

With that crucial issue properly managed, she knew she could return to the true purpose of the meeting. The unusually warm expression shifted to one of seriousness as she pushed one of the buttons on the keypad sitting before her. In response, the center monitor displayed an organizational chart detailing the eight official duties, bifurcated into five _Field Operations_ and three _Home Operations_ assignments, and the hierarchy of ranks designated to fulfill those tasks. The leftmost monitor showed the names of every officer within the room with their new ranks and missions listed alongside. The use of the two terms piqued Jadeite's interest as they implied that the people chosen for those roles would be sent away from the multitude of caverns that composed their base. It marked a tremendous departure from Beryl's typical insistence of minimizing the number of people who left, partially to maximize her personal protection. However, the failure of that previous strategy was exposed by the ability of the senshi to infiltrate the base and almost defeat the queen within her own throne room. In light of that, it no longer made sense to stay within the darkness of their base if they could achieve far more success outside.

"Now, the second part of my agenda is to reveal the new organization for our forces as it relates to our change in mission," Beryl announced, slowly moving her gaze about the room while she spoke. "It took a long time, and a near disaster that occurred _way_ too close to home, for me to realize the need to rethink our strategy and distribute forces accordingly. Yet, as you can see, I have done exactly that, and as a result I have promoted some of you and reassigned almost all of you."

After completing that sentence, she pushed her tall frame from the seat and walked until she stood next to the center monitor. Each of them had suffered dozens of meetings and immediately deduced from her posture she soon would commence a presentation. However, none of them had ever expected the self-styled monarch to perform an act that was typical of her subordinates, and the collective facial expressions, accentuated by the utter silence, said as much. In fact, it said so much that her burgeoning annoyance at the scene deeply compelled her to quell their concerns.

"If my desire to take a more active role surprises you, then I would advise you to get used to it. We will be meeting like this once every month. I refuse to just sit back and watch the birth of our rightful kingdom slip further and further into the distance due to that disgusting princess and her senshi."

The shocked countenances that existed before the queen's comments immediately disappeared, much to her satisfaction. Not that it was ever a problem for her, but the statement also attracted their undivided attention to her ensuing explanation. She immediately seized the opportunity to describe the changes she had made to her forces, using the large monitor and the text that it displayed to emphasize her points. In particular she highlighted the organization of Field Operations, which was subdivided into _Core Operations_ and _Support Operations_. The former was further divided into the duties _energy gathering_ and _combat_ , whereas the latter contained the tasks _intelligence_ , _communications_ , and _transportation_.

"Anyway, for anyone associated with Field Operations, you will spend most of your time outside of this base," she said with a more composed tone. "The captains in charge of Core Operations will answer to Major Grayson. The other three captains associated with Support Operations will be under the command of Major Kamei. This overall group will be led by Commander Marakof."

Marakof solemnly nodded his head. "I wholeheartedly accept this new command, and I hope to not disappoint you, your highness."

"That's exactly why I chose you for this vital task."

She turned her gaze to the reasonably shorter woman sitting beside the tall, slightly graying man. At the same time, she accentuated the portion of the chart that detailed operations occurring almost wholly within the base. That was partitioned into _Defense Operations_ and _Home Support Operations_ , with the second category consisting of _field liaison_ and _youma production_ duties.

"Commander Analiese, you will be in charge of Home Operations. Major Salomon of Home Support Operations and Major Ortega of Defense Operations will be under your purview."

"Understood, your highness," Analiese firmly replied, her statement punctuated with a sharp nod. The other two majors, one of whom was newly minted that evening, and the captains serving them also nodded in affirmation of the queen's order.

The faint smile on Beryl's lips revealed her contentment, allowing her to easily move to the third point of her meeting. "Now, I want to let you all know what I think our newest strategy should be for gathering energy."

She summoned a large map of Tokyo prefecture on the left monitor and an inset of the eastern region of the prefecture on the right monitor. The screen in the middle displayed the wards of Minato, Adachi, and Katsushika, in their proper orientations and distances from one another.

"What I plan to do is shift our focus from Juuban District within Minato Ward to the wards of Adachi and Katsushika. The reason for this is simple: Juuban is where the senshi are or were known to reside. I want us to operate in a region where the senshi are not known to live. Granted, we have no information on the three newest members of the senshi, the supposed outer senshi, and that will always be an issue for us. Furthermore, as we all know by now, both the princess and Sailor Mercury have disappeared from tracking. Not only did we lose three of our youmas in the process, but it makes it impossible for us to ascertain their whereabouts."

"Do you think they're going to be anywhere close to Minato?" Jadeite asked.

"My instinct tells me that they probably will be as far away from that ward as possible. However, we have no idea where in Japan they could be, assuming they're still within the country."

"It is possible they are staying with relatives in different city?" Grayson asked, his characteristic deep baritone echoing throughout the small room.

"Very possible, I would assume," Marakof replied. "The only issue is determining where they are."

"We don't have any solid information on the extended families of all of the senshi, particularly that of the princess," Analiese added.

"Well then, we know at least one of the people within this room actually has a job in the near future."

The blatant dose of sarcasm that laced her voice, joined soon thereafter by a momentary smirk, served as an antidote to the otherwise flat stare that she pointed at Ichikawa, her hand-picked intelligence captain. Still, the man dared not give more than a curt nod in reply lest he inadvertently risk angering his queen. After all, he wagered the costs of miscalculation were still extreme despite her apparent attitude shift.

"Is there anything special about Adachi and Katsushika?" Jadeite asked, expertly returning the discussion to the main point.

"The main reason I chose those wards was that they were spatially distant from Minato, yet were in a reasonably populated area so that deploying youmas there to gather energy would be worthwhile," Beryl answered.

"Wouldn't targeting a completely separate city achieve the same effect?" Salomon asked.

"Maybe so, but the fact that most of our resources are in Minato, with no easy way of transporting them in the absence of teleportation for everyone except Jadeite and a few of our youmas, limits our options at the current time." Beryl turned her eyes down to gaze at the dark brown wood of the table and exhaled a heavy sigh of disappointment. She then directed her melancholic gaze at Kamei. "The fact that we need to know accurately where to teleport is the second reason I didn't choose regions much farther from Minato. We'll have to ensure that Jadeite and whatever youmas we decide to employ become intimately familiar with the area, but the only way we can get to Adachi or Katsushika is by more common means."

"That makes sense," Kamei replied while tentatively nodding. "However, I hope that we could expand much farther as quickly as possible."

"That, indeed, is my plan as well."

She pushed another button on the keypad, bringing up a summary of the current state of the Dark Kingdom's youmas on the left monitor. It showed that there were forty-seven total, with five dedicated to the task of gathering energy from humans, nineteen skilled at combat, and the remaining twenty-three specialists at reconnaissance. Fifteen of the latter youma type were deployed within Juuban in a fruitless search for the princess or were closely monitoring the remaining guardian senshi.

"The other part of my plan is to conduct simultaneous energy-gathering missions in separate locations," Beryl said, her confidence returning. "The idea is that having more than one youma at work increases the amount of energy we can obtain at any time. It has the bonus of preventing the loss of one youma by the senshi from completely devastating our mission. Furthermore, the distance between the youmas should complicate any response by the senshi."

On the surface the plan looked reasonable, but Jadeite remained skeptical. "How would distance alone stop the senshi from destroying those youmas? Our energy-gathering youmas are pathetic at combat and would not stand a chance against any of the senshi except for Mercury. Also, they have Kunzite, which should allow them to cover great distances at ease via teleportation."

"I agree with you that it would be folly to leave the energy-gathering youmas by themselves." Beryl grinned, revealing her excitement in relaying the next part of her scheme. "That is why my initial plan is to have reconnaissance youmas accompany them. In the event of an attack or if senshi are detected nearby, they could alert us and enable us to deploy the combat-oriented youmas. The exact plan for how to achieve this is something I expect you and your commanders to construct, but I think that is a wise starting position."

"That it is, your highness. On its own it's not foolproof, but I'm sure we can improve upon it."

"Very well." She then pushed herself up from her chair, prompting everyone else to do the same, and slowly looked over her officers once again. "That is all I wanted to say for right now. Even though I gave plenty of specifics about our new strategy, it is far from complete, giving each of you plenty of space to find the best method of carrying out your tasks. I picked each of you for your individual roles because I sincerely believe you are the best suited for your missions. Do not forget that."

"We won't, your highness," Marakof and Analiese practically said in unison.

"Oh, and there's one last thing I need to do before departing," Beryl added, almost as an afterthought. She closed her eyes and fell into a trance-like state, her body slowly radiating bright red luminescence as she concentrated. Seconds later, several far more intense explosions of gold light occurred throughout the room as the glow surrounding the queen diminished.

"Congratulations on your promotions," Beryl evenly stated before she teleported from the planning room in a blast of red light.

Analiese's eyes widened when she peered down at her uniform and noticed that the trim had changed from its previous silver hue to red. With that alteration, she had become a true Commander in her queen's ranks, and it excited and elated her. Other people experienced similar emotions upon witnessing the tangible evidence of their new ranks. However, after a minute or so of ebullience, the mood turned somber as they knew they had to demonstrate to their queen that they fully deserved their stations. That mindset drove them to immediately start designing, in earnest, a far more detailed plan for gathering energy. It was a task that kept that baker's dozen of officers stuck inside that cramped room for several hours, but they considered it a worthwhile sacrifice given the complexities of their nascent plot.


	4. Family

**4 | Family**

Bright yellow sunlight filtered through the spaces between the venetian blinds and cast narrow pillars of light across the room. One of those pillars just happened to fall across the reposing figure of a golden-haired blonde soundly sleeping in her cot. A long pigtail fell across the floor and was captured by another column of light, causing the thick strands to practically glow in its presence. It was a scene of absolute beauty and tranquility, something that neither the sleeping girl nor the one silently gazing while sitting at the edge of her bed had experienced in quite a long time. The quiet observer wanted to do nothing more than remain there and soak in the magnificence of the lovely picture painted before her. However, there was something far more important and special that she and the girl she passively watched had to do later that morning, which meant she begrudgingly had to destroy that peaceful image. She slowly tiptoed her way to the side of the cot and gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"It's time to wake up, Usagi-chan," Ami whispered.

"Just a few more minutes…" the blonde groggily mumbled. Her eyes steadfastly remained shuttered, refusing to consider the concept of accepting light without the proper stimulus.

Ami grinned and giggled softly. "We have to get ready to see your parents and brother at the hospital this morning. I'm sure you won't want to miss that."

She was fortunate to retain some semblance of quick reflexes despite the earliness of the day and her extended disappearance. They came quite in handy as Usagi shot up from the cot and into a vertical position, barely grazing her nose in the process.

"What time is it?" She frantically searched around for a clock or other timepiece. "I don't want to be late! Not for that!"

"Don't worry, Usagi-chan. It's six o'clock in the morning, and they start letting in visitors at eight." 

Usagi's chest moved forward as she heaved a tremendous sigh of relief. "I want to be sure to see them the first chance I get today," she said softly. Her tone was mostly cheerful, but there was the smallest hint of disappointment that Ami readily detected.

"I'm sorry we didn't get an opportunity to see them last night." She lowered her head in similar display of regret.

"It's not your fault, Ami-chan." Like magic, her own feelings of despair disappeared as she directed her concerns at her best friend. "The train ride was three hours by itself, never mind the fun of getting to Tokyo Station undetected, buying the tickets, and waiting for the train, all of which took another hour. You couldn't control any of that, so don't feel bad about it."

"I know, I know…" She turned her eyes toward the window as she released a much smaller yet equally comforting sigh. "It's just all so horrible that we even have to go through this, although I'm sure it's far worse for you since it was your family that they tried to kill."

"But they failed, and now they'll never get another shot at it. That's one thing I'm going to make sure happens if I do nothing else," Usagi said with impressive resolve.

Ami returned her gaze to her princess. "And I'll do everything in my power to help you, Usagi-chan."

"I absolutely believe you." Utter silence dominated for the next few moments before the blonde relaxed and smiled warmly at her friend. "So, what should we do for the next hour or so?"

"Beyond the obvious, you should probably tell us more of what happened to you in the Dark Kingdom. We really couldn't talk about that on the train."

Usagi emphatically nodded in agreement. "You have _no_ idea how much I have to say about all of that. It was complete and utter hell for every second I was there, and I had no idea if I would survive." She paused for a moment before continuing in a tone that lacked its earlier resentment. "I could probably write a whole book about my experience, a pretty compelling one at that, if I didn't have to keep my identity secret."

"But both our families and the Dark Kingdom know about us already."

"True, but I don't think telling the entire world about us being senshi is a good idea."

"I see your point," Ami said a few seconds later as she slowly nodded her head in understanding. "If they know we're senshi, and that there's this huge evil force using dark magic that's trying to take over the planet, then there's likely going to be mass panic that ultimately will make our jobs much more difficult."

"And the last thing any of us need is our lives becoming more difficult than it already is." Usagi's mood soon became far more mirthful and she began to chuckle. "Anyway, I don't want to spoil the whole story, and I want my parents and brother to know as well, so you'll just have to wait for me to tell everyone else when we get to the hospital."

"In that case, I guess I can wait."

Ami smiled and, inexorably, began to giggle as well. The two continued to laugh until light tap on the bedroom door seconds later interrupted their reverie. Two pairs of eyes turned to the threshold and gazed at the tall brunette, who in turn peacefully stared at them while displaying a beaming smile on her lips.

"I see the two of you are awake."

Ami nodded. "We were trying to determine what to do before we go to the hospital to see Usagi-chan's family."

"Well, one thing we can do is get Usagi a new cell phone. Her last phone was destroyed when she was captured."

"Last two phones, actually," Usagi whispered. A slight blush of embarrassment covered her cheeks as her head drooped to point her eyes at the floor.

Saeko's grin only widened at the sight. "Don't worry about it, Usagi, as I have no qualms about doing this for you. Besides, you'll absolutely need a phone to contact us and your parents when you'll inevitably be away from us."

"Thanks, Saeko-san!" Usagi accentuated her joy by leaping to her feet, running to the slightly surprised woman, and wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. Ami merely smiled in response to her friend's palpable elation.

"You're welcome," she replied with a chuckle as she lightly returned the embrace. Usagi soon let go and walked back to the cot, merrily grinning all the way. Saeko let the amusement subside before addressing the girls once again. "Now, what were you girls thinking of doing before we leave for the hospital?"

"Actually, not much, unfortunately," Ami answered somewhat sullenly while Usagi slowly nodded her head in muted agreement. "I think both of us are just getting used to being… here… alive, and in relative safety."

"That much I fully understand." Saeko walked to her daughter and enveloped her in a very tight and loving hug. "I'll tell you what. Why don't we go out for breakfast this morning? There's a nice little café not too far away from here that makes wonderful omelets. It'll be a nice family outing, one we haven't had in quite a long time." She turned and pointed a gentle smile at the pigtailed blonde. "That absolutely includes you too, Usagi. For everything you've done for me and my Ami, you certainly count as family to me."

Gratitude was an insufficient term to describe Usagi's emotions after hearing Saeko's heartfelt sentiments. Her face turned a deep crimson, partially from embarrassment but mostly from the sensation of joy at knowing Ami's mother effectively considered her another daughter. For all its brightness, the smile she held a few moments prior paled in comparison to the one that had taken to her lips. Furthermore, her eyes were the most dazzling and resplendent they had been since that period before her capture by the Dark Kingdom. There was no mistaking the sincere elation and wonderment the girl felt.

"I'm amazed, and yet so glad, that you consider me part of your family."

"It would only make sense. Anyway, I think we should get cleaned up so we can get out of here and get some breakfast. After that we'll go phone shopping and then head to the hospital so Usagi can see her _actual_ family."

Saeko turned to leave, but was stopped by the inquisitive look on Ami's face and the question her daughter asked soon thereafter. "So… are all of us are going to go shopping?"

"Well, maybe—" the doctor paused for a moment, humming lowly while slowly nodding—"no, I doubt it. I think it would be better for him to spend some time familiarizing himself with the layout of Kyoto. That way he can learn places to easily teleport in and out if the need arises." There was another contemplative pause, followed by a faint grin. "Also, he probably can't go out in that uniform as he'll attract too much attention. But, the good news is he's about the same height as my father, so at least he has some new clothing available. It may be a bit tight on him as he's slightly heavier in build, but it's only a temporary fixture."

Usagi tilted her head to one side in confusion. "Where is he going to get the money for that?"

"I left him fifty thousand yen to use for shopping and some suggestions on places where he can buy things without spending everything on one item." She instantly perceived the pair of disbelieving looks and sighed in resignation. "I know, I know… But it's not like I can just leave him in his current state. And, besides, it's not _that_ much money, so it's not a tremendous loss to me."

Everyone's attention was drawn to Luna, staring at her as she yawned, arched her back, stretched out her hind legs, and eventually spoke groggily. "I can accompany him to help him with his task."

Usagi shot the black cat a mischievous smirk. "Good morning to you, sleepyhead. It's good to know that, for once, I woke up before you."

"Although I did have to physically wake you up," Ami said with an equally jovial smile directed at the blonde.

"Details." Usagi's tone was as dismissive as the wave of her hand. She then winked at Ami before turning back to Luna. "Anyway, what do you know about buying clothing, let alone men's clothing?"

"Not much, but that's not the point. I want go with him so I know what's around here and can brief you all on the places where you could hide and transform, at the very least."

Saeko nodded. "That sounds reasonable. I hope you two don't spend all day touring the city, as I'm sure Usagi's family would want to meet you. Granted, they already know you're a talking cat, but for so long they've only thought of you as a toy and never actually had the opportunity to speak with you. I have a strong feeling they'll also want to meet Kunzite and hear what he has to say about the conflict."

"Very well. I'll be sure to let him know that." Luna then slowly walked from the room in search of their former nemesis.

Saeko turned to the girls. "Anyway, once you guys are ready, I need you to help me coax my parents away from their bedroom while I abscond with some clothes to leave for Kunzite." She gave them a playful wink before leaving the two senshi to complete their mission while preparing for her own.

—|1| **2** |—

The trio arrived at Kyoto City Hospital one minute after eight o'clock, which meant they were among the first people to be admitted to visit patients that morning. Their first task was to meet with the nurse stationed at the front desk to determine the identity of the room where the mother and young son of the "Tachibana" family was located. After that they wasted no time in traveling to that room, which was on the fourth floor of the moderately tall building. Their anticipation made the trip appear to take longer than the five minutes actually required to walk the halls and ride the elevator. They finally stopped before Room 416, the room within which Usagi could finally see her mother and brother after such a short yet horrific absence. Her father was in a different room as recuperation from his injuries required more specialized equipment and even more time. The pigtailed blonde was the one to softly knock to announce the presence of guests before slowly opening the door. Certainly, the nurse had forewarned the patients to expect guests, but she did not want to immediately barge in on the two and frighten them. She wanted the surprise to be as pleasant as possible.

"Who's the— _Usagi_? Is that you?" Ikuko asked as she looked upward from her book. Her tone changed from bleariness to astonishment the moment her eyes focused on the petite girl.

"Yep, it's me."

At first, the girl in question was calm as she walked into the room. However, she knew she could not maintain the façade for much longer and ran to her mother with her arms spread wide, ready to deliver a tremendous hug.

"Oh my _goodness_!" Her joy was unfettered as she welcomed as best as she could her daughter's embrace. The injuries prevented her from giving as tight a hug as she desired, but there was no doubt in the amount of love she conveyed through even that loose hold. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

"You too, mama." Her tears soon found their way down her reddened cheeks and splattered against the light blue sheets. "I love you so much. I was so devastated when Beryl… when she… I mean, I thought you…"

She began to struggle with her words as she lacked enough poise at that moment to carefully and properly organize what she wanted to say. Furthermore, the whole concept she failed to vocalize—and the accompanying memories, despite their falseness—utterly terrified her. Instead she decided to just remain silent for a few moments and count her blessings for the fact her mother, brother, and father were still alive and well. She wished she could hug her father the same way she held her mother and would soon hold her brother. Maybe in a few days she would have that opportunity.

"It doesn't matter, honey. Not right now. I'm here now," Ikuko tenderly whispered into Usagi's ear while gently caressing the sobbing girl's back. "Thanks to you, we're all perfectly fine."

As mother and child embraced, the elder Tsukino could not see the other guests walk into the room. Shingo was also absorbed with the reunion involving his sister to pay much attention to them. That is, until he saw the girl with short blue hair silently and tranquilly walk into the center of the room. She was more than willing to stay in the background and allow Usagi all the time she needed. On the other hand, he was so shocked by her presence that he almost inadvertently shifted everyone's attention to the demure young woman before she was ready to receive it.

"I-is that really Ami-san?" He stuttered slightly as he pointed at the girl. Ami slowly nodded and gave a modest grin in response, drawing a similar smile from the boy. Before he could say anything else, he found himself wrapped in the slightly quavering arms of his older sister.

"I'm so happy to see you too, Shingo." Her hoarse voice did little to mask her cheerfulness. "I love you so much, and don't you ever think otherwise."

"I wouldn't doubt that for the world," he replied before frowning in confusion. "However, I don't get all the crying. It's not like anything happened to us."

Usagi shook her head and smiled at him, even while the tears continued to flow. "I know that now, but before…" she managed to say before she was overcome once again by her conflicting emotions of trepidation and exhilaration.

It was also the exact moment Ikuko finally noticed Ami. She stared at the girl and blinked a few times in wonderment before she could imagine the question within her mind. It took another second for her to spit out the words.

"Ami? Is that really you?" Her face held an expression of delight tempered with concern.

"Yes, Ikuko-san, it's me," Ami pleasantly answered in conjunction with a sharp nod of her head and a large smile.

"Usagi saved her," Saeko added while placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders and exhibiting an equally bright smile.

Ikuko nodded in understanding. "I'm so glad you don't have to live with the thought of never being able to see such a wonderful girl grow into a beautiful woman." It was not hard to detect the merriment in her tone, given her recent fright of possibly having lost her own daughter. "As strong as you appeared to be, I doubt you could have maintained that for much longer if she really was gone."

"Actually, I didn't maintain it at all." Her smile dimmed as she recalled that harrowing experience. "I cried the hardest I've ever cried in my life the night I found out my dear Ami had disappeared. Although I tried to hide it, I'm sure Usagi heard me the entire time."

A veil of melancholy covered Ami's face as she looked up to gaze at her mother. She quickly folded her hands in front of her, but not before swiping at her cheeks with one of them. Her curious actions soon attracted Ikuko's notice.

"What's wrong, Ami?"

She vociferously shook her head in denial. "N-nothing. I was j-just, um, s-somewhat taken aback by what my mom had to go through while I was gone. But since I'm here she shouldn't have to worry about that anymore." She punctuated her statement with a smile that wasn't quite as brilliant as the one that preceded it.

"Well, I think I'm okay now," Usagi said as she dabbed the few remaining tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her sweater. "Now I may be able to tell you all what happened while I was in the Dark Kingdom. I'm sure you'd like to hear about that."

For the next hour, Usagi proceeded to tell in sometimes horrifying detail her story of the circumstances that surrounded her captivity. Naturally, she started with her apprehension by Sazaratha and her exposure to the same type of sapping stone that had imprisoned Ami's soul. She mentioned her encounter with Kunzite, but she was careful to not paint the general in the same terrible light in which she portrayed the demon. That was followed by what she knew and could sense from her captivity in the specially designed chamber and the mostly pointless interrogation that she realized was designed to break her rather than gather information from her. Then she told her captivated audience of the initially strange meeting with Beryl and the events that occurred near its conclusion.

"So… that's why you were crying so much when you saw us." Shingo's low voice revealed both the awe and terror he felt from hearing his sister's account.

Usagi slowly nodded her head in affirmation. "Part of me knew that it really wasn't you, but the absolute shock of seeing the very thing I feared the most completely broke me," she said softly. "I couldn't think straight after that, and that allowed Beryl to convince me to do something that I know now would have ended in disaster for all of us."

"What was that?" Ikuko asked.

The blonde took a huge breath of air and slowly released it to calm her emotions before continuing. "She wanted me to use the Silver Crystal to eliminate myself from all of existence. She told me I was the cause of everything bad that had happened in the past and now. Combined with having seen you all die—or at least thinking that was what I saw at the time—and her insistence that I could bring you all back if I did that, I wholeheartedly went along with it."

The revelation that Usagi almost destroyed herself and any chance at salvation for the planet understandably shook everyone, but it seemed to have a greater effect on Ami. That was exemplified by the tears that slowly fell from her dimmed eyes.

"Fortunately, I was rescued by the princess," Usagi said with a small but very warm smile on her lips.

She waited for a few moments and basked in the perplexed stares she knew she would receive from such a statement. Saeko was the first to take the bait, and quite emphatically at that.

"What on earth do you mean? Is it not true that you're the princess?"

"I am Princess Serenity, but until yesterday I wasn't _fully_ the princess." She took a few paces to a corner of the room where she could equally address everyone without turning back and forth so much. "This may sound strange, but ever since my birth I was occupied by two souls. One was mine and the other was the reincarnated soul of Princess Serenity from the Silver Millennium. She had stayed with me and observed my life as though it was hers. She saw everything I saw, heard everything I heard, and felt everything I felt. For the most part I had no idea of her existence with me until that night Ami-chan disappeared, my former friends attacked and tried to kill me, and the Dark Kingdom tried to kill my family."

She paused for a few moments to collect her thoughts and find a proper way of expressing them before continuing.

"I was completely depressed and apparently I was going to do something to harm myself." Her initially doleful tone, an emotion sparked by that dreadful memory, swiftly disappeared the longer she spoke. "That was when I heard her speaking to me within my mind, trying to calm me down and let me know that I would be fine despite everything that had happened to me. We then started to talk, and she told me her story of the end of the Silver Millennium and how the souls of the dead senshi were transported to the future by Queen Serenity's use of the crystal. Apparently I was never supposed to be a senshi, but the queen had made a mistake, and that's how I became Sailor Moon."

She paused again, prompted by what she considered blank stares borne from her rambling and interpreted them as a sign to quickly get to the point of her side story.

" _Anyway_ , what I'm trying to say is that the appearance of the previous princess is what you saw when I transformed the last time," she said with a slightly faster cadence. "She's Serenity the Fifth, while _I'm_ Serenity the _Sixth_ , and apparently I'm a lot more powerful now that I have my full powers." A resplendent smile concluded the speech.

"I see." Ikuko turned an equivalently bright grin to her daughter. "If she talks to you again, be sure to send her my thanks."

"Well…" Usagi's smile began to falter as she reflected on the absence of the late predecessor's soul. Her eyes started to dim and fill with tears. "I don't think that's going to happen, as my ascension to the princess required that she disappear forever." Thankfully that moment of melancholy was short-lived, destroyed by renewed enthusiasm and a forceful smile, just as the princess probably would have desired. "Though, I'm sure she already knows how much you appreciate what she did."

Her mother solemnly nodded, wishing she could have met the other aspect of Usagi's existence but nonetheless was grateful for the being's kindness. She was about to say something more about that, but a light tap at the door interrupted her. She stared at her daughter in confusion as the girl casually walked to the door and opened it, allowing an unknown man to enter the patient's room. She did not even know there was a person waiting outside, or even to expect other visitors that morning. Though the man's identity was a complete mystery to her, she immediately recognized the black cat he carefully nestled within his arms. Usagi's calm demeanor in his presence allayed her concerns, but only up to the moment introductions were made.

"I'm glad you could make it." Usagi then turned to her mother with a smile she hoped would put the woman at ease given her next words. "Mama, I'd like you to meet the person who helped us escape from the Dark Kingdom, Kunzite."

"W-wait… You mean, as in the general who tried to kill you—and tried to kill _us_?"

Before the girl could even nod she saw the paperback book fly across the room and almost nail the tall and impeccably dressed man right in the forehead. Fortunately it was the only thing Ikuko had available to her and her lone uninjured arm. Nevertheless, the stabbing pain that shot through her body failed to deter the woman's attempt at pushing herself up from the bed so she could lunge at Kunzite.

"Please calm down, mama! It's okay! He's no longer evil!" She ran to her mother and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, partly to reassure her but also to restrain her if necessary.

"It's true," Luna added as she leaped from the general's arms to the much colder tile floor. "Usagi purified him of evil and, as a result, rescued me and many other innocent people from the clutches of the Dark Kingdom."

Ikuko fell silent, but her anger and hatred did not immediately leave her just because of that proclamation. She stared fiercely at the man who she would have done her best to severely hurt in retaliation for trying to kill her daughter were she not laid up in such a terrible condition. Her breathing slowed to a very deliberate pace as she attempted to calm down and understand what Usagi had just said. Though, the presence of that wretched man bowing before her did little to help matters.

"I deeply apologize for what I did to your daughter, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I feel terrible about the things I did while I was working with Beryl, and I want to do anything and everything within my power to ensure that woman does not succeed."

"Why should I believe you? After all you did to us, why should I suddenly think you've changed and now want to help us?"

"I fully understand your cynicism," Kunzite evenly, if not somewhat meekly, replied while continuing to bow. "It was hardly a day ago that I strove to ensure your daughter's death so that Beryl could enact her vengeance from the events of the past life. However, thanks to the wonderful power Usagi possesses, she was able to cure me of the curse that Beryl had placed on all of the Shitennou. So, once again I beg you for your forgiveness."

Ikuko finally turned her eyes to Usagi. The subtle nod and smile she received from the girl was enough to convince her. She heaved a long, slow sigh, but when she finally turned back to him her expression had softened considerably.

"I forgive you, Kunzite-san. You weren't your normal self when you were acting under Beryl—that I can understand now. I appreciate that you decided to help Usagi and her friends."

He finally stood erect upon hearing those words. "It's my pleasure to do so. Besides, with the Earth in as much danger as it currently faces, there is nothing I'd rather do than assist them in defeating Beryl and, more importantly, in ridding the planet of Metalia."

Ikuko nodded and allowed a tiny smile to tug at her lips. "Well, I'm sure that we'll have a better chance at success with your help." It widened as she gazed at the general. "By the way, I'm sorry for throwing that book at you."

He chuckled. "I'm happy it was only a book."

"So, Kunzite, I was just telling everyone about what happened while I was held captive by the Dark Kingdom," Usagi said, her enthusiasm, though muted, staunchly belying the cruel reality hinted by her words. "I was just about to tell everyone about the battle, but I thought you could give us some idea of what was happening on the other side."

"Well… most of our efforts—when I was working with them—were concentrated on capturing you. That was done by me and a being called Sazaratha. I don't know how much she told you about her—"

"She told them everything that we discussed yesterday evening," Saeko interjected.

"That's good," he said with a sharp nod. He then paused for a moment before continuing in a more dour tone. "There was something else that I forgot to tell you all about that evening, and that is that Artemis was captured by Sazaratha shortly before she found Usagi."

There were a series of gasps that echoed throughout the room from everyone, but none were as loud as Luna's. She looked up at the man with wide, focused eyes that were filling with tears.

"Do you know if he's okay?"

"Unfortunately, I have no idea. If I can find any good news in this, it's that she isn't interested in killing him. However, she put him through an amount of torture that rivals what had happened to the princess. Beyond that, I have no idea what her plan for him is, but I have a feeling, if we ever see him again, that we'll have to be very cautious around him."

Luna dropped her head and dejectedly sighed. Her tears slowly fell from her eyes and mottled her fur. She meandered to a corner of the room with the intent to privately sob, but found herself in Usagi's gentle arms instead.

"I'm sorry, Luna," Kunzite glumly added. "If I knew where she was keeping him, I would have—"

"I-it's okay." By then her voice was quite raspy, and understandably so. "I don't blame you for what happened to him. He's strong, and I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Luna…" Usagi whispered, feeling the same sorrow experienced by her advisor.

"It's fine, Usagi." Her dismal tone wholeheartedly disagreed with that simple statement. "Please continue with what you were saying."

The room was filled with awkward silence as Usagi tried to find a way to resume her explanation in the wake of such saddening news. It was made far more difficult by the silently sobbing cat she tenderly cradled. Eventually, she found the fortitude to speak, though it only served to defer to the general.

"Um… Anything more about what Beryl is planning?"

He took a deep breath that he audibly exhaled before answering. "Two major things I can think of. One of which I already told Usagi and Mizuno-sensei and that concerns the army of youmas that Beryl currently is constructing. Fortunately the senshi managed to destroy a quarter of her capacity, but that leaves fifteen hundred of these monsters to wreak havoc and gather energy for Metalia at a much faster rate than ever before." The apprehensive expression that covered everyone's faces, even those who knew the information beforehand, spoke of the seriousness of the news. "The second thing is that Beryl has set up an extensive surveillance network around Minato and is currently tracking all of the senshi. That is, of course, with the exception of you two."

"I guess our plan worked to perfection, then," Saeko said, unable to resist the urge to smirk.

Kunzite turned toward the doctor and gave her an equally mischievous grin. "Whatever you did, I'm absolutely delighted that you did it, as it makes it that much more difficult for Beryl to operate. She'll have to devote as much time and effort to making sure you all don't come from out-of-nowhere and ruin her activities. That being said, it does mean that you'll have to be extremely cautious if you decide to return to Juuban. There are youmas all over the place looking for you, and they all look exactly like humans so you wouldn't know about it until it's too late."

The grin that spread across Usagi's lips matched the deviousness in her voice. "I _do_ still have the disguise pen."

"But, even if you use that, they may be able to recognize your energy signature," Ami nervously added. "In that case the pen does nothing for you."

"That's true," Kunzite said. "The good news is that the youmas don't have the ability to detect such auras. Sazaratha does though, and she's extremely skilled and dogged in the art of tracking. But, she's just a single entity."

"So, that should be an overall advantage to you, right?" Ikuko innocently asked her daughter.

Though it was not directed at him, Kunzite was the one to answer her question. "If she were to just pass through Minato, the answer would be yes. It's a completely different story if she had to meet with the other girls, as that would bring her right to the very youmas tracking her. Again, if it's just a youma, she could confuse them by using the disguise pen, but if Sazaratha happened to be there, it could spell major trouble."

"Couldn't we just defeat her and get it over with?" In her annoyance, Usagi might have spoken louder than desired, but as everyone turned to stare at her she found that she did not care. "I mean, I should be as powerful as her by myself, and with the rest of the senshi at my side, even if we haven't yet dealt with our personal issues, we should easily beat her."

Kunzite sullenly looked at the floor and shook his head before turning his gaze back to the pigtailed blonde. "Do you remember when we last fought, one-on-one, as enemies?"

"Of course I do. It was only two days ago, after all, and my memory is not _that_ bad." She flippantly stuck her tongue out at him. "But, yes, I do, and I think I know where you're going with this. I beat you the last time we fought, even after you started to fight with all of your strength."

"Well, not _all_ of my strength, as I had to dedicate a fair amount of my magic in maintaining that force field, but your point stands." His stare slowly intensified. "The hitch here is that I didn't use any tricks beyond creating the barrier that prevented you from leaving. Sazaratha, on the other hand, is a far dirtier fighter. You did see how she deliberately avoided combating Uranus and Neptune to take out Zoisite at the perfect opportunity, right?"

"I remember her starting her attack and then randomly disappearing, which I thought was completely strange at the time."

"Exactly. The likelihood of her fighting you in a direct battle, one where she hadn't heavily stacked the odds in her favor, is very small. She would run away at the slightest sense of a disadvantage. That's not to say she's not a formidable warrior, and I think she's slightly more powerful than me at this juncture. It's just that she's more willing to use underhanded tactics to achieve victory."

"I think I understand," Ami said, her tone quiet and contemplative. "If we were to find Sazaratha and attempt to corner her, she would just teleport away to somewhere safe. The only time she would stand and fight is if she led us into a trap of some kind."

"Yes, that's pretty much correct," Kunzite replied with a nod.

After spending a few more minutes discussing Sazaratha's possible motivations, Usagi continued the far more captivating story of her ordeal. Inevitably, that meant discussion of her fellow senshi.

"All of us were in her throne room, and I was so close to, well, pretty much killing myself. It was the previous princess who stopped me from making that mistake, but I also was helped by Sailor Pluto, who I learned about earlier but had never actually met until that time. Pluto, along with Sailors Uranus and Neptune, make up what we call the outer senshi, and apparently they were unaware of their identities before my capture. They, along with Sailor Jupiter, had just burst into the throne room—literally—at the perfect time. Mako-chan had come to her senses at that time and had joined the outer senshi to help me escape."

Ami's eyes widened upon the mention of the tall brunette's name and, more specifically, the way she said it. "Mako… chan…? So, you're saying you've already forgiven her?"

"For the most part." The smile she gave Ami was not her brightest by far, but it was no less earnest. "There're still a few things I want to know before I fully forgive her, but I realized last night that she was sincere in her apology. What Mamoru-san said during the battle also made me see that. It's not to say that I'm still not somewhat mad at her for what she did to me, but for some reason I feel that her mindset was different from the others, and in a good way."

"Why don't you speak with her now, or at least as soon as possible, so the two of you can put that issue behind you and begin repairing your friendship?" Ikuko asked.

"I want to… I absolutely want to see her again and talk things out, but… I also… have to be careful in how I do it as I don't want to get caught, and… that takes time…" She averted her eyes from her mother's pleasant stare and instead pointed them at a blank spot on the wall.

Ikuko lightly frowned upon hearing her daughter's softly spoken words. "That sounds more like a pitiful excuse than anything."

Usagi slowly heaved a frustrated sigh as she knew her mother was utterly correct. "I know I'm probably being unfair to her, but a part of me feels she should have to suffer, if only a little bit, by waiting," she whispered. "It's wrong given that she doesn't feel that way anymore, but… but… I want her to feel just as hurt for what she did to me as I felt when she betrayed me and tried to kill me."

Ami stared at her best friend in stunned silence. She learned about the assault that occurred after her disappearance and the complete collapse of the relationship between Usagi and the other senshi prior to their last trip to her former home. Naturally the girl would be emotionally wounded by their treachery. Who wouldn't be, after all? But she did not expect the normally compassionate Usagi to behave in such a vindictive manner, especially to the one girl who arguably deserved it the least.

"I fully understand why you feel that way, but it's not healthy for you," Ikuko said with utmost sympathy. "Furthermore, it's not good for her, as I'm sure she becomes more depressed every day she believes you hate her."

"But I don't hate her."

"I know that. We all know that. But until you speak to her, she doesn't know that." She motioned for Usagi to approach her bedside, which the girl did without delay. That made it easy for her to tenderly stroke her daughter's back as she spoke. "All you have to do is talk to her and let her know how you feel and calmly ask her why she acted as she did. If you do that then I assure you everything will be just fine, but nothing good will happen if you don't talk to her."

Usagi felt a few tears well within her eyes as she pondered her mother's wise words. The woman was right, after all. She had to speak with Makoto, and sooner rather than later. Her original plan was to travel to Juuban that upcoming Saturday and meet with the senshi of lightning alone to determine what her newly restored friend was thinking at the time when she joined the others in attacking her. She had another request for the brunette as well before she would be satisfied and accept the girl's remorse and relay in turn her forgiveness. However, the only reason for delaying the encounter was pure spite on her part, an emotion she entirely disliked and hoped to avoid as it was too similar to the way they treated her. Yet, somehow, she had fallen into that same trap of responding to one's malice with unfettered cruelty, and though it was a purely natural reaction it was wholly inappropriate to aim it indiscriminately. Makoto had apologized to her the moment she had seen her, and felt true remorse when the other girls still believed in their hatred and doubt of her. The fact she was thinking about deliberately dragging the physically strong but otherwise quite gentle girl through such agony sickened her.

"I'll go speak to her tomorrow," Usagi said, her voice conveying a strange mixture of pure sadness and remarkable resolve. "I'll call her to let her know that I plan to visit her, but not in a form that's recognizable, just so she's not surprised."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to call—I mean, over normal cell phones?" Luna asked. "I would think it's a better idea to use the senshi communicator."

Usagi sluggishly nodded before her lips fell into a pout and her eyes slightly dimmed. "I don't have a communicator anymore. It was destroyed during the battle with Kunzite in the photo studio." She paused for a few seconds, her vacant stare locked onto the wall as she wallowed deep in thought before continuing in a low mumble. "It was the reason I wasn't able to tell them that I was still fighting and thus would be late in getting to the park."

"I guess we can have Ami call Makoto while I try to construct a replacement communicator for you," Luna said. She huffed, disappointed in having a suddenly busier week. "It will take a few days for me to do that, and I'll have to go to the special training room in Crown to do that."

Ami turned a probing gaze to Luna. "What exactly does that involve?"

"It's mainly just a lot of work in fabricating the specialized electronics. There's no real magic involved in the communicators themselves or in the way they work, and in all honesty they're no different than military radios except they're a lot, _lot_ , smaller and more advanced. The bulk of the work—besides actually manufacturing the tiny circuits—goes into properly implementing the encryption algorithms and radio frequency-hopping algorithms and into ensuring the antennas are correctly shaped and are functional."

"Do you mind if I join you?" The resplendence within her eyes matched her eagerness.

"Not at all." Luna grinned, content in knowing that her week might be salvaged after all. "In fact, I'll definitely need the help, and with someone as smart as you assisting me I'll probably have the communicator ready even sooner, probably in two days max."

"Wait… two days?" an abruptly shocked and apprehensive Ami asked. "What about school?"

"I think I can cobble together a convincing excuse for why you were absent," Saeko replied while giving a slightly mischievous smile. "With your record, I truly don't think they'll mind very much. The more important thing is that you're very, very careful while in Juuban. The last thing we want is for you all to make a mistake and inadvertently tell Sazaratha or Beryl that we're here."

Ami sharply nodded while smiling brightly. "I absolutely don't think that will be a problem."

"Where are you going to stay if you're helping Luna make me a new communicator?" Usagi asked, momentarily forgetting the most obvious answer.

"It's the special training room. I can make anything I want in there, including a house for Ami to reside in, if necessary," Luna flatly replied before Ami could open her mouth to answer on her own. She readily ignored the furious glare directed at her from the normally docile girl.

Usagi chuckled at the scene before returning to her story. It was one that did not take long to finish as she was close to the finale before that latest digression.

"I guess, all in all, it was a pretty one-sided battle, wasn't it?" Saeko asked, though this question was more rhetorical than serious.

The blonde nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, although we were pretty lucky as well. They didn't have any youmas there, which would have made things a lot harder for us. They did try to send some, but the other girls defeated them while they were leading the civilians away to safety."

"Wait, _civilians_?" Ikuko and Saeko emphatically asked almost simultaneously.

"Um, I guess I forgot to mention that earlier, didn't I?" Usagi shrugged and looked askance. "There were innocent people there as well, victims of Kunzite when he was still evil. He had captured their souls and bound them within his body so that I wouldn't be able to defeat him without potentially killing them as well. Luna was one of them, as were Mariko-san, her boyfriend Kousuke-san, Azusa-san, and a bunch of girls that also were there at the photo studio." Kunzite stared at the ground with surprising meekness as she spoke. "Fortunately, their souls were rescued from his body when I purified him, but they had to be led away as there was still a pretty big fight going on and I didn't want them getting hurt."

"What did you end up doing with them?" Saeko asked Usagi, who in turn gazed at Kunzite with inquiring eyes. It took him little time to decipher her expression.

"I teleported them back to Juuban," he answered after heaving a reluctant sigh. "I told them they were safe following what they had to endure, but I also implored them to keep what they had seen and encountered a secret, at least until we're able to defeat Beryl."

"I don't think we have to worry about them revealing anything super important such as our identities, as they have no idea who we are," Usagi swiftly added.

Ami nervously shook her head. "But there's still the danger of them publicizing the enormity of the conflict and potentially creating a mass panic."

"I doubt that any of them would attempt to speak out," Kunzite said. "I told them of that possibility, and judging by their responses I'm certain they understand how much of a mistake it would be if they spoke out about their rescue at this time."

"Let's hope that remains the case," Saeko said.

After a long period of silence, Ikuko stated aloud the question that each person in that small room indubitably had asked themselves. "So… what is the plan now?"

Not surprisingly, given that morning discussion, there was only one reasonable answer and everyone knew it. Anybody could have given the proper reply. But none of them did, until the one person who had the most to gain and to lose from it spoke. Strangely, given the predicament, her words were accompanied by a wide smile.

"It's simple. We wait."


	5. Bad News, Good News

**5 | Bad News, Good News**

"Owww… What the hell? It feels like my head is about to explode."

Massaging her scalp with her fingertips provided little comfort in face of debilitating pain that made her nearly fall from her low-lying bed. Instead, it merely resulted in a tangled mess of damp blonde hair. She winced again as her agony intensified with time.

It was a rarity for Sazaratha to use the bed tucked away in a corner of that bleak chamber when she never needed to sleep. In fact, the sheer amount of exhaustion she felt was unprecedented. Yes, everything would have been worth it in the end, but it did not mean she had to enjoy suffering through the occasional downsides of having to occupy a human body to do her bidding. That was when the strain of intense mental contemplation transformed into raw, undulating pain. Her hands slid to the sides of her head and her eyes slammed shut as she attempted to suppress her sudden nausea. She felt as though she was on the verge of getting a migraine, though she only knew about them through her research and the misfortune of once choosing a victim who was susceptible to them. Needless to say, that body was quickly discarded, but her memory of the agony remained.

Nevertheless, no such explosion of her cranium occurred, to the chagrin of her foes. Instead, something even more unexpected happened. Intensely negative energy, a sinister aura more powerful than any she had ever wielded or even experienced, pervaded the room. The already dim and gloomy space fell into an inky blackness that blinded her. That side effect alone was unprecedented, but most amazing of all was that she felt her spirit slowly depart the body she had inhabited. Under normal circumstances that occurred solely upon swapping existing disguises or obtaining a new one from some hapless victim of her myriad schemes. Otherwise, she needed to occupy a human body to survive until she regained her former strength. Only two beings in the entire universe had that capability, and it was not the one resting incapacitated in another part of that subterranean lair.

" _Do you wish to speak to me, my master?"_

Her tone, though contained to her thoughts, was incredibly meek. On the other hand, the booming voice that replied within her mind was anything but. It forced the demon to cringe, an unusual event considering her history.

" _Who are you? I can sense you are not my Metalia. So, I ask again, who are you?"_

" _My master, I am Sazaratha, viceroy and governor-to-be of System W-0599-3, Galaxy XC-14087M, within your glorious empire."_ Subservience plainly was not a huge part of her personality, but when it mattered most she could kowtow with the best of them.

" _Heh. So_ you _are that underling of Metalia's that she had mentioned so frequently._ " The voice's tone was slightly softer, yet never far from imposing. _"She has said so many good things about your ability, which was why she chose you to govern that crucial location. However, I have not heard from her since she had begun her conquest."_

" _My master, I regret to inform you that we encountered a small problem in the execution of our plan. We had successfully managed to induce one of the main leaders of W-0599-3 to attack the satellite garrison orbiting it on our behalf. However, the leader of that garrison was far more formidable than we had anticipated and managed to deal a great amount of damage to my superior."_

" _So, are you saying my Metalia is dead?"_ Its fury had returned, and it was an order of magnitude greater than before.

" _No, no, NO, my master! She is very much alive at this moment."_

" _Well, then, why am I speaking to_ you _and not to_ her _?"_

It took her a few moments to judiciously formulate the words she hoped would draw the least amount of ire from the owner of that voice. _"Because… she is extraordinarily weak from the attack she had sustained. I am currently in the process of gathering energy from the inhabitants of this planet so that I can revive her."_

Raw ferocity subsided, only to be replaced by concern. _"How long has she been so debilitated?"_

" _Just over three farsecs, my master, though I am sure it will require less than one system orbit—not even one tenth of a ferasec—for Metalia to rise again."_

Sazaratha and her cohorts measured time in units that differed drastically from those used on Earth, ones that were based on practical manners. For example, it took one farsec to traverse one-thousandth of the span between regions of the universe controlled by the originator of that ominious voice. In human terms, it meant a lengthy 1630 years, though it was a mere pittance for truly advanced space-traveling beings such as Sazaratha. By that same token, one of her kind could blink the rough equivalent of an eye and miss the passing of a ferasec, yet in her frail human form those seven years became more of an eternity.

" _And what makes you so certain that her resuscitation will occur so quickly? I have heard the stories of the kingdom that orbits W-0599-3, and I have seen evidence of the tremendous power its leaders wield. It was why I ordered Metalia and not any other of my subordinates to take that region, and I assume it was the same reason she trusted you to govern it thereafter. I hesitate to believe that whatever attack the progeny of Selene had used could be overcome so quickly."_

" _But it is true, my master,"_ she quickly replied. _"Beryl, the creature Metalia chose to be her puppet, and her minions had utterly destroyed the forces of that kingdom. Serenity the Fourth, the kingdom's monarch at the time, was not at her full strength when she attempted to use the renowned sealing attack against Metalia, possibly because she was grieving over her daughter's death. Because of that, both she and Beryl had managed to break the seal."_

" _And what is this Beryl doing right now? Is this—"_ there was a short pause as the voice attempted to recall the term for that planet's main life forms _— "human a threat to my Metalia?"_

" _Actually, Beryl still is under Metalia's influence and is working to gather energy for her as well, but her ultimate goals differ from mine."_

" _Are you suggesting you no longer desire to dominate and govern W-0599-3?"_

" _In all honesty, my master, given the length of time I was forced to endure living on this wretched planet, I only seek its destruction and that of the entire system upon Metalia's resurgence."_

" _Well, I only require the suppression of the so-called Moon Kingdom, as that force is the greatest threat to my conquest of its galaxy. Whatever happens afterward is the choice of you and Metalia. From what you've told me, it appears she had successfully completed that part of the mission."_

" _Unfortunately, the princess of the Moon Kingdom was reincarnated along with her protectors, and they are working to prevent Metalia's revival. However, I do have a plan for dealing with them, and they are far weaker now than they were during that era."_

" _Very well. I hope not to hear any more about them when I arrive in the region."_

That statement palpably surprised Sazaratha. _"Y- You-you're coming here, my m-master?"_

" _As I said earlier, I have received no communication from my Metalia for quite a while, so I decided to establish for myself the cause of this disturbing silence."_ The voice was strangely calm. _"I am pleased to hear that she will recover quickly by your estimation, but if she is remains incapacitated by the time of my arrival then I will take it upon myself to revive her."_

A menacing smirk would have crept upon her lips had she been in her human body, but the lack of that form did not minimize her joy. _"You need not worry, my master. She will be at her full strength long before you see any hint of_ _XC-14087M."_

" _I am already well within that galaxy. You don't have one-tenth of a ferasec to play around. You have less than a quarter of that time. You had better succeed in reviving Metalia by then. I can promise right now that you will face especially severe punishment for your failure if you don't."_

" _A-a-absolutely, my m-master!"_ Just like that, her confidence vaporized. _"I will work doubly hard to ensure you can speak to Metalia before your arrival."_

" _Then do so."_

That forceful command abruptly ended the conversation. The absolute murkiness that surrounded her gradually faded, and at the same time she felt her spirit slowly seep back into her indigenous host body. It was a figure that was curled up into the fetal position upon the soft duvet. As she gingerly opened her eyes and gazed at her dim world she once again felt sincere gratitude that no other being could have witnessed her moment of apparent weakness. However, that thought was short-lived as she realized her far greater concern.

"It looks like I'll have to strike soon if I want any chance of getting rid of the damned princess," she said in an annoyed whisper. "As much as I hate that stupid Beryl her actions are helping me greatly, so I'll leave her alone for now."

She brushed away the wayward strands of hair from her face and firmly pushed herself off of the bed. There was no time to waste, not when she had only three months in which to work an absolute miracle. She was as good as dead if Metalia was not revived by then. To make matters worse, none of the youmas would be ready for use in that short time. Yet, she already had a plan brewing in her mind to overcome that hurdle. All she needed was a few unwitting allies and a little bit of luck. That couldn't have been too hard to come by, right?

—|1| **2** |3|4|—

To an outsider, the scene mimicked the idyllic look and feel one expects of retirement. For the short-haired brunette playing the starring role, it was anything but. Sure, part of that image came from her relaxed posture, with her feet propped atop an ottoman while she reclined back into the soft cushions of her chair. The book she held in her hands was a heady romance novel, a far cry from the somewhat dry medical journals she was used to reading. She did not have to worry about being on call for work, and she had an entire house to herself. Well, herself and the cat lying at her feet. Save for the soft pattering of raindrops against the roof, it was quiet and it was peaceful.

It was also the furthest thing from the truth.

Saeko sighed as she grabbed a bookmark and stuck it between the pages before casually tossing the book onto the nearby table. As much as she liked the story, it was not nearly enough to staunch the nervousness that welled within her—that and a whole host of other emotions she deemed unnecessary and unwanted. She stood from her chair and meandered toward the kitchen. A quick glance at the digital print displayed on the oven's clock told her it was time for dinner, and she figured Luna was hungry as well.

"I hope you like _udon_." Her tone was flat. "There's not much of an option here, and if you want anything else I'd have to go out shopping."

"I'm fine with that." Luna jumped from the ottoman and followed the doctor into the kitchen.

Saeko prepared two bowls of noodles, giving herself the larger portion while saving the smaller one for her tinier guest. Luna wasted no time in leaping onto the table and digging in. On the other hand, she was a lot less enthusiastic about eating despite her obvious hunger. After a few minutes, she was only halfway done with her meal. Luna could sense the growing consternation billowing from the woman.

"I can feel that you're worried about something," she said upon pulling her nose out of the bowl.

Saeko shook her head and turned away. Try as she might, however, she could not maintain her silence for very long under the heat of the feline's intense stare.

"I… I just received a call from Daichi-kun regarding the hospital's investigation into my misuse of the clandestine patient transfer protocol."

Watanabe Daichi was a manager at her former hospital who was involved in that very same scheme. More importantly, she considered him a very close friend. Yet, that wasn't at the forefront of her mind as she absently drummed her fingers against the table and spoke in a pensive whisper.

"Personally, I don't care what happens to me if I lost my job. I've lived a fairly privileged life and I'm grateful for that, but at the same time I could lose all of that tomorrow and not care one whit. However, I'm not willing to put my Ami through that. She has enough troubles to deal with to have to go through such instability."

Luna slowly padded closer to Saeko and gazed tenderly at the woman. "What are you going to do?"

"It's not a big deal right now," she said while anxiously smiling. "I currently still have a job, though I'm officially on a paid vacation from it. Given that I'm living here in Kyoto now and there's no way I'm making the daily commute to Juuban, I'll have to find a new job here no matter what they plan to do to me."

"Do you have any offers from hospitals here?"

"Not yet. Depending on what happens with the investigation, there might not be any takers. Nobody wants to hire someone who flagrantly flouts such serious regulations. But, it could be much worse after all, so pending unemployment is nothing compared to the end of the world."

"Is there any way I could help you if you can't find a job?"

Saeko's chuckling gradually morphed into full-blown animated laughter. Her amusement subsided a few seconds later, the time when she reached over and gently patted Luna's head. The black feline squirmed in response.

"Thank you, but I'm afraid there's not much a cat can do, even if you are magical and possess the ability to speak. Besides, I'm not that cruel."

Luna pouted. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, I know. But, the thought did get a nice laugh out of me, and that's what counts." She stood and began to pace aimlessly about the dining room. "I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude about what you could rightly call a dismal future. As I said, there's much worse that could happen, and I willingly broke the rules while knowing the consequences. But, I can't stop myself from fretting about what it means for my daughter. At the time, I was convinced that she was dead and I was doing whatever I could to ensure Usagi did not suffer the same fate. Now she's very much alive, and the consequences I was perfectly willing to endure alone might now affect both of us."

"That's why I'm willing to do whatever I can to help you," Luna said more impassionedly. "Both Ami and you are very important to me, and I can't just sit by and let you two suffer. I might not be able to do anything myself. And, even if we manage to find Artemis—and for Selene's sake I hope we do—the two of us still may not be of too much help. After all, we are just cats, as you said. But, I'm sure I can think of something to take the pressure off of you. I can be pretty crafty when necessary."

"So you say, and I greatly appreciate it. I really do." She walked to the table and picked up the empty bowl, sighing as her gaze lingered on her own bowl and the half-eaten meal within for an extra moment. "But, I still would rather deal with this myself. I'm not in dire straits yet, and I still have a few tricks of my own, even if I don't land a job at a hospital. I mean, I am still a doctor, and becoming a general practitioner remains an option as much as I hate it."

A smile came to her lips, one that was far brighter than any she had given thus far that night. She heard a contented purr from Luna when she carefully lifted the cat from the table and cradled her in her arms.

"If Ami decides to become a doctor, and I'm positive she'll be a wonderful doctor someday, then I'll be sure to inform her that the GP route is not the way to go."

"That wouldn't surprise me at all. She _is_ Sailor Mercury for a reason, and it's not just due to her magical skills. I remember some old saying; something akin to an apple not falling far from the tree."

Saeko gently caressed Luna, who had taken the opportunity to lie across the woman's stomach. She didn't mind as she could barely feel the feline's weight, and the warmth from her tiny body only further brightened her mood.

"You know, I could definitely get used to looking after you more often if you keep acting like this."

—|1|2| **3** |4|—

"Good evening, Shinohara-san."

Only the tiniest amount of excitement infiltrated Makoto's tone when she delivered her greeting. The target of her words was a woman a few years older than herself, someone who she had never seen before that evening. In that regard, the woman might as well had been a complete stranger. Someone whom Makoto typically would pay absolutely no mind.

The elder brunette sat upon one of the plush sofas that occupied the building's lobby, waiting patiently for Makoto to make her way down from her apartment. A clock on the far wall next to a bank of elevators displayed a few minutes past four o'clock when the girl finally appeared. While it was later than the time upon which the pair had agreed, Makoto's tardiness failed to sully her mood. Besides, she was accustomed to being the cause of the occasional delay, so what right did she have in harassing others for the same? As such, she stood from the sofa and nodded toward Makoto.

"Good evening to you, Kino-san. How are things going for you?"

"About as well as can be expected, given the circumstances."

"That is wonderful news." She smiled warmly, which prompted the younger brunette to do the same. "Shall we go up to your place for a bit before heading out?"

Makoto stuck her arm out and pointed back toward the elevator doors and the nearby stairwell entrance. "After you."

The two walked to the door, which was locked and only accessible by a keycard. As a resident of the complex, Makoto had the required card and thus took the impediment in stride. However, her older acquaintance was merely a visitor, and the delay had clearly peeved her.

"Why does this building have to be so difficult?" Her tone was littered with annoyance. "We'd be in your apartment by now if they didn't require those stupid cards."

Makoto chuckled as she and her companion entered the stairwell, the door locking shut behind them. "They're there for security. Or at least, that's what they say."

She had barely finished speaking when a brilliant explosion of white light forced her to cover her face lest it blind her. When it finally dimmed, the woman who had accompanied her had completely disappeared. She was not frightened by the event, for she knew the woman was never really there in the first place—at least, not as a real entity. Not only was she prepared for the illusion, but she was wholly familiar with it. As much as she enjoyed being around the tall brunette for that short time, it paled horribly in comparison to what she ultimately desired from the shorter, younger blonde who emerged from the glow.

"Sorry about that, Mako-chan. I should have warned you before removing the disguise."

"Usagi-chan!" Makoto pulled her princess into a tight embrace, her emotions starting to overwhelm her. Fortunately, Usagi did not hesitate in returning that hug, though with a looser grip.

"Calm down, Mako-chan. We still have to actually get up to your place."

"Right, right." She slowly released the smaller girl and used her freed hands to wipe away the tears that welled within her eyes.

"Now, my plan is to go up to your apartment and have a nice, _long_ discussion about what happened last Friday and before that." It lasted only for a moment, but there was no mistaking the sternness in her voice. "However, I think we need to do a bit of shopping first."

"Shopping?"

"Grocery shopping. There are a few things I want to get for later tonight. It's not an awful lot, however, so it won't take very long."

"O-okay." The reply failed to alleviate Makoto's confusion.

"Obviously I'm going to need a new disguise for that, which I'm going to do right now." A wry grin played with Usagi's lips. "Consider that a warning."

She withdrew her Disguise Pen and held it high above her head. "Moon Power, change me into a well-off college student."

A bright flash of pink and white light heralded yet another disguise. Shorter green hair and more stylish fashion replaced her blond pigtails and dowdy school uniform.

"I thought you were already a well-off college student."

Usagi responded to the teasing with an equally playful huff. "Well, this is a different one. Clearly I can't go back out looking the same way I came in. It'll be too obvious."

The levity faded away, and there were a few seconds of silence before Makoto asked the question that, though not always at the forefront of her mind, had been bothering her ever since Ami's call that morning.

"Why are you hiding behind a disguise?"

Usagi sighed wistfully while shifting her gaze to her feet. "I'll tell you much more later tonight, I promise, but for now I think it's enough to say that it's for my own good… and yours as well." Even more silence passed before either girl spoke again. "Anyway, let's go before it gets dark."

Thirty minutes later the pair returned to Makoto's dwelling within the apartment complex, with Usagi cradling the paper bag in her arms. Her eyes widened the moment she walked through the door and saw the decorative interior for the first time. The Jovian senshi's strong connection with nature was evident throughout the residence, as were her tasteful choices in artwork. Furthermore, while it was not quite as immaculate as Mamoru's apartment, the fact that Makoto took great care in maintaining a relatively clean home was blatantly obvious.

"Wow! Your place is so beautiful!"

"Thanks." Makoto's cheeks flushed slightly as she pointed her princess toward the dining room area immediately abutting the kitchen. Usagi sat the bag down upon a small table that occupied that space. "I'm glad that you like it."

A friendly nod was Usagi's only warning before she quickly fell into a somberness that startled her hostess. With a brilliant flash of light her second disguise of the day disappeared, leaving a petite blonde who leveled an intense stare at an anxious brunette.

"Now with that done, I think we need to get to the true reason why I'm here."

"O-okay." Makoto blanched as various thoughts swam through her mind.

"There's no need to be afraid, Mako-chan. I think it's obvious that I don't have many hard feelings toward you, unlike I unfortunately still do with the other girls. Also, it may help you to know that I forgive you and that I'm close to considering you a friend once again."

That comment elicited a warm smile from Makoto and restored her confidence. She opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it as she heard the more distressing continuation.

"However, we're not quite there yet. I'm frustrated by the question I keep asking myself when I think back on what happened that day, and that's why you did it." She took a few steps closer to the taller girl while holding her focused gaze. Even as her voice softened, it never lacked fearsome resolve. "Why did you attack me along with the others? I could tell that you were not as committed as they were in trying to kill me, but that doesn't erase the fact that you attacked me. So, why?"

Makoto gradually took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing it just as steadily. She felt absolutely sick to her stomach as she was reminded of her prior actions, but she fought the urge to break down and sob or do anything equally dramatic. That would have gotten her nowhere. Besides, it was an easy question to answer once she took a few moments to reflect on her past mindset.

"It's because, at that time, I was convinced that you had sold us out, as Minako had suggested," she calmly replied, albeit in a voice that barely was louder than a whisper. "After Ami died—or we thought she was dead at the time—and you didn't arrive in time to save her, I thought that you didn't care about her, or about any of us. I didn't want to think that you were working against us at the time, but… it was hard trying to maintain my belief in you as Ami kept getting worse." She paused for a few moments as she took another deep breath. "I hope you believe me when I say that I didn't hate you personally. Before that happened, I hoped we could maintain some sort of friendship, even though I thought—incorrectly, I know—that you weren't our princess. But when Ami, um, disappeared after what Zoisite did to her, it was hard to think of anything other than the idea that you were a traitor. The last thing I ever wanted was to have someone I deeply liked and trusted betray me again. Ironically, I ended up betraying your trust instead."

Usagi lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly to one side. "Again? What do you mean by that?"

Makoto's sigh was tinged with sadness and frustration, though that latter emotion was directed more at herself than her princess. She flopped down onto the nearby sofa, making it easier for Usagi to direct her attentive gaze without craning her neck upward.

"It pretty much has everything to do with what happened to me after my parents died. Neither my mom nor my dad really had any siblings to speak of, so there weren't any aunts or uncles I could stay with. Well, there actually was one, my aunt Kimiko, but in hindsight I'm probably more fortunate that I was tossed into the system as much as I hate it."

Usagi sat at the other end of the sofa next to Makoto, never breaking her stare. "I already know that you're an orphan."

"Yeah, but I never bothered telling anyone what I had to go through while being a ward of the state. Maybe other kids had a much better time at it, but those five years of my life had been an absolute hell. I would never wish such a fate on anyone, not even my worst enemies."

Usagi blanched and visibly shuddered as thoughts filled her mind of what might have ensued. "D-did someone try to hurt you while you were in there? You know, I've heard some stories about—"

"No. _Goodness_ , no. It wasn't anything like that." An emphatic shake of her head accompanied the denial, and the combination seemed to swiftly put the blonde at ease. "Even at that age I wouldn't have ever let something as horrible and disgusting as that happen to me."

"Somehow, that doesn't really surprise me."

"Well, obviously I was a little smaller then, but I was no less fearsome. In a sense, I had to act that way to make sure nobody would mess with me, though a lot of that was fueled by my anger at suddenly losing my family."

Usagi's blinked as her jaw dropped in disbelief. "I honestly can't imagine you being a bully, not even with what you did to me that night."

"I wasn't, and I'm not, but there were others who gladly played the part. I hated them with a passion. They learned quickly not to mess with me, but that lesson didn't necessarily translate when it meant bullying the other kids." She lifted a hand and waved it in front of her in a gesture of dismissal. "But, that's not the reason I had felt so angry at you and want to attack you—at least, not by itself."

"What is it then?"

Makoto did not immediately answer. Instead, she remained silent and ensconced within her own thoughts for several seconds before a miserable sigh signaled her willingness to speak.

"Pretty much anyone in the system was eligible for adoption as long as anyone actually wanted them. In my first few months there I wasn't really worried about that because I still desperately missed my parents and didn't quite fully understand that they would never come back to pick me up and take me away from that place. Then, for about a year after that, I didn't want to go to any other family as I couldn't imagine replacing the mother and father I had loved so much with anyone else. However, I soon began to come around to the idea of having parents who loved me and wanted me, even if they weren't my original parents. Of course, the older you are, the more difficult it is to find anyone who wants you."

Usagi nodded in understanding. "I remember Mamoru-san saying something like that when we were still together. It was very hard for him to get noticed, and eventually he ended up leaving the system on his own."

"It sucks, but it also makes sense, right?" She chuckled, but it was utterly mirthless. "Anyway, when I was ten years old, I met a couple who was interested in adopting older kids like me. They had already adopted two other kids and were interested in a third and, somehow, I had caught their eye. I don't know how but it seemed like they really liked me, despite the record for so-called violence I had. I really liked them as well. The more we met and talked during those horribly brief visits, the more it felt like I was developing a bond with them. It eventually came to the point where they all but promised me I was the one and that they would adopt me instead of the other kids."

"What happened to make them change their minds?"

Makoto saw her vision blur as her eyes began to fill with tears. She turned away from Usagi, but it was too late to conceal her growing sorrow.

"There was a girl I knew at the time who had entered the system a little more than a year after I did. Her name was Yukari. Matsumoto Yukari. In almost no time we became very close. In fact, she was the closest thing to a true friend I had before meeting you, Usagi-chan, if not even more like actual family. Since she was a year younger than me, I treated her like my little sister and she treated me like an older sister. It was almost perfect. When that couple had come looking for someone to adopt, I wished hard that they'd pick both of us. However, they could only choose one, and by some strange luck they were more interested in me than in her."

"I imagine that created bad blood between the two of you." Her gaze was more compassionate than merely curious when she leaned closer to Makoto, apparently ready to tenderly embrace the girl at any moment.

"Everything seemed perfectly fine at the time between us, as far as I knew. She appeared genuinely happy for me. All of that was a lie though, and it wasn't just from her. A few months later, right about when that couple was about to make a decision, I found Yukari being physically threatened by another girl who was about my same age. I knew that girl had been a problem with some of the other kids before, and because of that I never really liked her. There was no way in hell I was about to let her get beat up by some stupid bully, so I did what I had done several times before. Only later did I find out how huge a mistake that was."

By then, Makoto had stopped trying to muffle her tears, and they streamed down her cheeks unabated.

"It turned out that the family interested in adopting me was also interested in adopting someone else, despite their promise to me. That someone else just happened to be that idiot girl I had beat up for trying to hurt Yukari. As you might imagine, that little act did not go over very well with them, and they ended up adopting her instead of me."

"Mako-chan…"

"The worst part about all of that is… Yukari knew. I don't know how she found out, but she knew. She was so jealous that they wanted to adopt me that instead of her that she sabotaged my chances. The whole attack was a set up to get me in trouble, and I was stupid enough to fall for it. I should have known something like that was going to happen. After that, nobody paid any interest in me again."

Makoto was fortunate to get to the end of her explanation before she was completely overcome by her uncontrollable sobbing. Usagi wasted no time in sliding closer to her friend so she could wrap her in a tender hug. Her own depression grew, borne from seeing the unabashed tears fall from a girl she considered to be far stronger, but she resisted the impulse to join her. Instead she continued to embrace the brunette for as long as she needed to do so. Her shoulder slowly became a damp mess during those few minutes, but she paid it no mind. It merely was the price of ensuring that Makoto fully recovered from the pain brought forth by recalling such a dreadful episode from her childhood.

"I-I'm sorry." Her crying had subsided, mainly because she had practically run out of tears, but Usagi's soothing touch was just as vital.

"Don't be. I understand now why you did what you did, and I don't hold it against you. I probably would have been just as hurt and angry if I were in your shoes and thought somebody close to me had destroyed my trust. And, anyway, I forgive you."

"I'm glad." A few more quiet sniffles finally marked the end of her crying spell. "It's just, I sometimes wonder how my life would have turned out had that never happened and they adopted me after all. Would it have been better than being ignored and shuffled around in the system for a few more years? Maybe. Maybe not. I don't really know. But, what I do know is that I eventually got to meet you, and that alone more than makes up for everything. You're my friend as well, my best friend, and I promise you that I will never, _ever_ , do anything to hurt you like I did before."

This time it was Makoto who initiated the tight hug in which she wrapped Usagi. The blonde wholeheartedly returned the favor as a broad smile tugged at her lips. "I absolutely believe you, Mako-chan. "

The two separated once again, sharing a light chuckle between them as they did so. Makoto peered over her shoulder and spotted the paper bag that had rested on the table. Usagi saw her movement and stared in confusion at the girl for a few moments before realizing what she was looking at.

"Oh… that's for later, I guess. There're still a few things we have to discuss—or rather, that I have to tell you—that are very important."

"Well, I'm listening."

Usagi started with the events of her capture and the conclusion of the battle within Beryl's throne room, both cases during which the other girls were absent. The realization that her princess was horrifically tortured depressed Makoto, as she blamed herself for enabling her capture. It took Usagi many attempts to calm the brunette during and after her account. The subsequent stories were less dismal but were equally terrifying in what they portended. Makoto cringed when she learned of Sazaratha's existence, her plans for Earth, and what happened to the people whose guises she took for her own. She had a similar response upon hearing about the network of youmas dedicated to monitoring the guardian senshi.

"Now I see why you were disguised."

"I had to do that to prevent them from finding out I was here in Juuban and visiting with you."

"And… how did you get here?"

"I had Kunzite-san teleport us here. Ami-chan is here as well, but she's with Luna at the special training room in Crown working on a new communicator to replace the one that broke."

Makoto's brain nearly went numb from the multitude of brand-new information contained within that one sentence. "Wait… So, Ami-chan's here as well? And she's in a what-kind-of room?"

"A special training room. It's a room that Luna controls where she can create any scene she wants for the purpose of training. That's where I found out I actually knew how to fight as a senshi instead of just cowering and waiting for you all to do the work for me." She could not help but to smirk at that. "I'd strongly suggest using it whenever you get the opportunity, though it's a good idea to let Luna know ahead of time so that she can show you where it is."

"Right. But, then what is Ami-chan doing there again?"

"She's making me a new communicator to replace the one that broke while I was fighting Kunzite-san."

"I see." Makoto could not bear looking at her friend as an immense bout of melancholy swiftly consumed her. The floor became far more appealing to her. "That's why you didn't tell us that you were late, because you couldn't."

"Yes, but… that's nothing you have to worry about now!"

"Yeah…" She slowly returned her gaze to the blonde and gave her the faintest of smiles. "I'm okay. Really, I am. It's just… It's hard to suddenly realize why we all were so horribly wrong." Her smile grew larger, although Usagi could blatantly tell it was forced. "Anyway, I'm sure there's more you wanted to say."

"Um, not really." A shrug accompanied her uncertain words.

"Oh."

Usagi turned her head over her shoulder and stared at the bag of supplies sitting on the dining room table. "You know, I wanted to finish our talk by saying some silly thing along the lines of, 'Now, the last thing you have to do to fully earn my friendship is to teach me how to cook.' I know… pretty stupid, right? However, everything turned out way different from what I planned, and now I feel horrible that I even had such a thought."

A much larger and sincerer smile graced Makoto's face. "You know, Usagi-chan, in all honesty I was thinking about what to bake for you in celebration of your arrival and our renewed friendship." She gently placed a hand on her princess's shoulder. "I don't know if you like lemon meringue pie, but I do know that I would like nothing more than to teach you how to make one, or anything else you want."

The promise of a delicious dessert was all she needed to say to pull Usagi from her funk. "Actually, that would be perfect."

—|1|2|3| **4** |—

With the proverbial clock ticking in her mind, Sazaratha bolted toward the wall, teleporting out of her personal chamber at the last moment with her typical flourish. Emerging into a hallway she continued her rapid pace until she saw something—or rather _somebody_ —at the end of the corridor. Her stride ground to a halt.

 _Wait… what the hell?_ She blinked a few times to ensure her eyes were not deceiving her. _I don't believe it._

They were not.

Approaching her down that same hallway was a person she had never expected to see alive, let alone walk freely through the passageways of the Dark Kingdom. He was as good as dead. She had personally witnessed his demise, an unyielding form of mental and physical torture that had no end and from which nobody ever escaped. Had he somehow managed to break free of that eternal sleep?

 _No… that's impossible._ She felt the anger boiling within her as each slowly approached the other. _This has to be that bitch's doing. Somehow, I figured Marakof could not have been running the whole show by himself. I just didn't know if "her highness" was personally involved, but now I know she isn't. She brought him back just because she would be completely useless without her Shitennou. The ultimate expression of irony, really._

Her growing infuriation, however, had nothing to do with the idea she unwittingly had to compete for some lead role in Beryl's force. She never held any true loyalty toward the self-styled queen of the Earth. Instead, his mere presence complicated all of her burgeoning schemes and frustrated her true goal. He had to disappear or else she would lose everything she worked hard to attain. Her eyes narrowed upon her target, and her hand discretely slipped into a camouflaged pocket on her dress and tightly clutched at one of the two black crystals she had concealed within.

 _There's nobody around._ That fact alone brought forth a grin that she fought hard to suppress.

The distance between the blonde demon and the fair-haired general in that narrow stone corridor gradually diminished. By then he clearly recognized her presence, as his woefully blatant glare told her. But it did not matter. One quick jab and one-third of her problems would have been eliminated in an instant before anyone else even acknowledged his absence. Her fingers reflexively tightened around that stone. She mentally replayed the precise motions she would need to make to assassinate Beryl's prized lapdog despite his heightened defenses. Very soon the two powerful beings were mere feet away from one another, and though he was extremely wary there was no possible way he could have guessed what was to befall him. As he entered her striking range she made one final calculation and concluded the planned assault had only one possible downside.


	6. Building Warriors

**6 | Building Warriors**

"I know you're really impressed with your new communicator, but you really need to stop playing with it out here."

Hearing Ami's terse whisper was enough to break Usagi free from her blissful daze. Sliding the small pink device into her purse, she peered upward at her companion while sporting ever the mischievous grin.

"But, can you blame me? It's _so_ beautiful."

"I'm honestly thrilled that you like it so much, but you can't go showing it off in a public space, especially when we're trying to be inconspicuous." While her sigh was louder, it was only because it wasn't muffled by her hand in the same way as her subsequent giggling. "Also, the stuff on the inside is a lot prettier in my opinion."

"I'm not surprised you would think that."

Ami merely smiled and shook her head at that statement. "So, I figure there's a reason we're meeting Mako-chan here and not anywhere else?"

"Of course. We have to show her the room. She needs—" Usagi slowly eyed the people surrounding the pair in a manner Ami found shockingly adept in its furtiveness before leaning in close— "she needs the training. And so do you."

"I- I know." The mere thought collapsed her mood, and her shoulders followed suite. "I apologize for letting you down so badly."

Usagi grasped Ami's hand beneath the table and spoke in a low but unmistakably caring voice. "You've never disappointed me, Ami-chan. Never."

"But, you wouldn't have been in this predicament if I could have fought against Zoisite." Despite her princess's caring touch, her tears began to stream down her cheeks. "The other girls wouldn't have tried to attack you. Sazaratha and Beryl would not have been able to capture you and torture you. You wouldn't have tried to kill…" That last, unfinished thought sent her over the edge into uncontrollable sobbing.

"Ami-chan…"

Forget mere hand-holding. Usagi immediately leapt into a tight yet incredibly tender hug of her despondent friend.

" _Shhh_. It's alright. None of that was your fault, okay? I don't blame you for any of that at all."

Her whispered consolations were interrupted by a young woman who approached the table.

"Oh. Err… I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She bowed as an expression of confusion and repentance fell across her face. "I can come back later if you'd like?"

"Thanks Una—er, Furuhata-san for your understanding. We might need a few more minutes before we can order, as we're waiting for a friend to show up."

"I'll be here whenever you're ready." The waitress's weak smile disappeared behind a veil of professionalism as she bowed once again before walking away.

"I-I'm sorry for losing my composure like that, Usagi-chan." Ami could barely muster a hoarse whisper, but it was enough. "I know you don't think I had anything to do with the horrible things you had to endure, but I definitely believe otherwise. How can I possibly protect you if I can barely fight off the weakest youma?"

"You know as well as I do that you're not that weak. Besides, the other senshi had just as much trouble fighting the youma as well, let alone having to deal with Zoisite on top of it."

"Maybe so, but they actually have offensive attacks to use against such youmas." More tears fell and further dampened Usagi's shoulder when she shook her head. "My so-called attack is creating the equivalent of bubbles. What good is that?"

"You're selling yourself short, Ami-chan."

"No, I'm being honest to myself and to you."

Usagi sucked in a deep breath and held it for a full second before slowly releasing the air and with it her frustration. A steady resolve took its place.

"No, you're only lying to yourself if you believe that you're no good, or that you can't possibly protect me. After all, you've already proved yourself to be better than good many times before. And, more importantly, you've saved my life. I wouldn't have even been around to be captured or any of that other stuff you're worrying about if you hadn't been there for me when I needed it most. Because of that, I believe in you. So, please, stop with this moping about already and believe in yourself, okay?"

That plea might have been what Ami needed to finally stop her tears, or maybe she just naturally ran short of tears to shed at that point. Whatever the case, there were only a few sniffles from the girl when she pulled away from Usagi's hug. She was met by a small yet tremendously warm smile when she gazed at her princess.

"I'm okay now. I promise. It's just, ever since the battle with Zoisite, at least up to the point when I lost all consciousness, I was feeling horribly inadequate. Those feelings resurfaced during the hospital visit when I finally found out what had happened to you after the ambush. Making the new communicators was as much a distraction from those painful thoughts as it was a labor of love."

"Well, we've already established that you're not inadequate, so you never have to worry about that ever again. So, no more tears from you. Between you just now and Mako-chan earlier this week, my shoulder's been getting quite a drenching." A nod and hints of giggling from Ami widened Usagi's grin. "Anyway, now that I have my Ami-chan here again and not that horribly depressed girl who took your place, how about sharing an ice cream sundae with me? I have a hankering for a great big strawberry and banana sundae myself, especially since _somebody_ decided not to share theirs with me last time." She opened her shoulder bag and directed a not-quite-fully serious glare at the black feline lying within.

"Hey, it's not—"

Before Luna could even really start that sentence, let alone complete it, she saw Usagi stick her tongue out at her and zip the bag nearly shut. She was left to do little more than grumble before lying on her stomach at the bottom of the bag.

 _Don't think I won't get back at you for mistreating your advisor like this._

Meanwhile, a subtle wave of Usagi's hand brought Unazuki, their waitress for the evening, to their table once again. The orange-haired girl was stunned to see Makoto walking up to and sitting down at their table at about the time she arrived to take their order.

"Sorry for being late," Makoto said as she sat down across the table from the other two. "I was held up for a short while in getting away from school."

"So, what would you like to—ah, Mako-chan! I'm glad that you're much happier than the last time I got to see you." Wide-eyed confusion soon set in, wiping the smile from Unazuki's lips. "Oh. I see you're here, but where are the others? You usually meet with them at around this time."

"They, um, got stuck with school-related stuff and couldn't make it today." Makoto shrugged as she glanced at Usagi and Ami. "Maybe they'll be by next time."

"I do want to see them again. I do hope they're doing okay, and you as well. I know it's been tough missing Ami-chan since she had to move away so suddenly. And, I haven't seen Usagi-chan in such a long time that I'm starting to get worried. I hope she's doing well also."

In spite of her older acquaintance's dismal expression, Makoto could not help but to grin and attempt to stifle a chuckle. "I'm sure you'll hear from both of them again really soon."

"I really hope so." She froze once she remembered that Makoto wasn't the only person at the table. "Oh, goodness! I'm so, so sorry you two. I didn't mean to ignore you. It's just that I know Makoto-chan here so well and I was surprised to see her here alone—well, not alone, but not with the people she usually hangs out with."

"We understand," Usagi said. It was convenient that the hand into which she coughed also helped to conceal her snickers as she tried to push herself from the brink of outright laughter. "Um, anyway, could we get your largest ice cream sundae…?"

Once Unazuki departed to have their orders completed, the three girls exploded into muffled cackling that, were they not in a public location, would have quickly spilled over into raucous laughter. It was easy for Makoto to understand their waitress's confusion given her recent experience, but that did not make it any less hilarious for her. Nor were the other two particularly saddened at the moment for taking advantage of a distant friend.

"Well, that went much better than expected," Ami whispered. A deep crimson blush covered her face for the second time in only a few minutes, but for a completely different reason than before.

"Mako-chan nearly blew it for us with that last line though," Usagi said with a playful wink directed at the girl.

Makoto lifted her hands up in front of her and waved them about in a defensive gesture. "Hey! I was just trying to cheer her up. After all, as far as she knows, one of you has moved to God-knows-where and the other just completely disappeared off the face of the Earth."

"I get that. And, maybe, sooner rather than later I can surprise her, but I obviously can't right now."

"And I definitely have to remain hidden alongside Usagi-chan, or else we'll both get in a heap of serious trouble."

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, yeah… that much I definitely understand. Saying that, I'm really amazed by how good your disguises are. If I didn't already know what to look for I wouldn't have been able to find you."

A mischievous smirk leapt upon Usagi's lips. "You have the Disguise Pen to thank for that." That wry grin was swiftly replaced by a sharp wince, a move that surprised and worried both Ami and Makoto. "However, I can't wait to get into the room—or at least eat something—as I don't know if I can keep this up for much longer."

Makoto stared at Usagi with wide eyes. "I had no idea using the Pen was so hard on you."

"Both of us used the Pen." Ami turned an utterly rueful look to Usagi. "But, I didn't know until just now that it was your magic that was providing my disguise. I figured I would have been contributing my own magic."

Usagi's warm and reassuring smile quickly eviscerated Ami's glum mood. "Don't worry about it, Ami-chan. I didn't want you trying to use the same costume that you used earlier lest Motoki-kun finds out that it's you." Her smile morphed into one that was more teasing. "But, to be honest, those glasses looked really cute on you."

"T-thanks." She could feel the heat on her cheeks but could only imagine how red they were. "I only wish I hadn't accidentally run into Motoki-kun. I hated every second of pretending to be a mute, because it's very difficult not to speak when you really want to."

"I hear that."

Makoto nodded and was about to expound on that thought when she saw Unazuki approach their table. The angle taken by the waitress meant she was the only one of the trio who had noticed the young woman. She lightly tapped Usagi's shoe, grabbing the girl's attention, and subtly placed a finger to her lips. Fortunately, her unspoken message was simple enough to be readily comprehended.

"And here you go you. One delicious strawberry and banana ice cream sundae. If there's anything else you want, don't hesitate to let me know. Enjoy!" Unazuki turned to Makoto and gave her a friendly wave before retreating to attend to other customers.

"Let's hurry up and finish these before I pass out." Though Usagi's intent was one of absolute seriousness, her jovial wink and outstretched tongue worked to put her friends at ease.

—|1| **2** |3|4|—

"Okay, that was a lot more fun than I expected." Makoto bent down into a crouch and breathed heavily in an attempt to catch her breath. "Having said that, I hope I never have to fight anything that moves that damned fast ever again."

Ami did not hear the lightning senshi's complaints, as she was too enthralled with her immense joy to notice. "I finally did it," she whispered.

"Way to go, Ami-chan!" Usagi enveloped her friend from behind in a tight hug, the surprise of which caused the girl to jump. "Now you can't say you're completely useless as a fighter since you've killed an enemy by yourself."

"Thanks, Usagi-chan!" Ami's smile gradually fell from her lips as she fell into a more pensive mood. "However, I wonder if I can do the same thing when I have to go against something much more difficult than Darangel."

"I'm sure you'll figure out a way. You're way too smart not to, and I believe in you all the same."

"Are you two ready for the next round, or do you need a bit more time to rest?" Luna asked.

Makoto rose to her feet and donned an expression of confidence that belied her mounting fatigue. "I don't mind going again. Besides, we're not always going to have an opportunity to relax in the middle of an actual fight."

"Putting it that way, you make perfect sense," Ami added. Her unsteady voice exposed blatant trepidation despite her attempts to hide it. "Rafki is our next opponent, right?"

Luna nodded. "It's significantly slower than Darangel, but its potent fire attack is not something you want to take for granted. Though, you should fare better against it given your water-based attack."

"I still wouldn't really call what I do an attack," Ami said while looking down at her feet and shrugging.

"Well, it certainly counts as one in my book." Luna then leaped from her seat at the control panel and turned to address Usagi. "You're going to be running the simulation for this round."

"Me?" The blonde's visage twisted into one of outright astonishment and perplexity. "But I've never done anything like that before. Isn't this a little too important to just throw in my lap? Why now?"

"You never know if or when you'll need to use this system yourself. I can't be the only one to have all the fun. Besides, the controls are actually very straightforward."

"So you say…"

Despite her uncertainty, once Usagi actually took a close look at the myriad buttons, knobs, and switches on the control panel, she could see order in the apparent chaos. Almost every switch she would have to press or flip, including the all-important reset button, was placed in a set labeled _Simulation Control_. The only thing that was separate was the microphone, and it took her very little time to determine how to operate that device. Her self-assurance skyrocketed once she figured out her job would be far less daunting than she initially feared.

 _This should be a piece of cake_. She then turned toward Makoto and Ami. "Are you two ready?"

"Absolutely," Makoto said while giving Usagi a sharp nod. Ami might have been less enthusiastic about the whole ordeal, but she was no less willing to take on her next opponent. Usagi merely smiled as they turned and walked through the door and into the training room.

—|1|2| **3** |4|—

Rafki was proving to be a more formidable foe to Makoto than Darangel ever was. Only once was she provided an opportunity to launch her attack thus far as a near-constant wall of flames had kept her at bay during most of the fight. The winged, beetle-like youma hovered at a distance and seemed to taunt her as any attempt to make the motions necessary to send her bolts of lightning were answered with more fire. She was starting to become extremely frustrated at the whole ordeal.

 _What the hell do I have to do to get an attack in on this thing?_

She shuffled backward along the hard, barren ground as another ball of red flames approached. Rafki had effectively created a large, arcing inferno that, in conjunction with the edges of the cliff, provided a formidable block against any physical attacks. After that, it could—and did—send wave after wave of flames to disrupt any attempts at counterattacking. Standing still to collect the energy necessary to deploy her lightning was becoming an increasingly bad idea. Fortunately, she was about to be reminded of a way she could counteract her increasingly dire situation.

"Don't forget what you learned earlier, Mako-chan!"

 _That's right!_ A tiny grin spread across her lips right then.

She turned and began to run away from the red beetle. For the first time during the battle it began to move as it quickly pursued her, spitting balls of fire in an attempt to corral the brunette. Luckily, she was just fast enough to evade the conflagration, which then enabled her to enact her plan. Her antenna was extended the entire time she ran, giving her constant access to the potent electricity that cackled throughout the dark-gray clouds. Suddenly she skidded to a stop and reversed her course, causing the ball of fire that shadowed her to fly over her head and explode along the ground behind her. At the same time, she continued to sprint toward the youma while ferociously shouting her incantation. Abrupt as it was, her move bought her enough time to send a beam of green lightning at the monster and land a direct strike on its midsection. That was enough to enable her to stand beneath the startled beast. Peering at its belly, she could see that it appeared less armored there than elsewhere on its body.

"Supreme Thunder!"

Though two uses of her attack in quick succession severely drained her, Makoto needed to do exactly that in order to see the end of the battle. She raised her hands directly above her head and propelled the lightning that had accumulated on her tiara directly into the youma's unprotected abdomen. From there it required little effort on Makoto's part for the beast to explode into a cloud of red dust. Finally, Rafki was no more.

"Congratulations, Mako-chan!" boomed Usagi's happy voice. "I knew you could beat Rafki!"

Makoto bent down and took a few seconds to catch her breath before responding. "Yeah, but it seemed to take _forever_. The damned bug… beetle… _whatever_ it is just wouldn't stop belching fire at me."

"But aren't you glad it's over now, and that you've managed to beat two enemies in a row by yourself?"

"Yeah, very." She remained hunched over and breathed heavily while she spoke.

"Well, you can relax for a while. You definitely deserved it. When you're ready again, you'll only have two more enemies to fight. Then you're done for the night."

"That sounds nice." Tired as she was, Makoto managed a faint smile.

Usagi's position in the control room hid the much wider grin her lips had formed. She remained silent for a few moments as she continued to gaze at the image of the crouching girl on her monitor.

"Hey, Mako-chan. Did you have any plans for anything after this?"

She took a second to think before shaking her head. "Um… no. Not really."

"Well, in that case you'll be able to join us for dinner tonight." 

That statement caused the brunette's eyes to quickly widen as she suddenly felt a curious mixture of nervous glee and outright astonishment. "You— you're inviting me to dinner with you?"

"Why are you so surprised? It's not like it's the first time I've ever invited you to dinner before. Think of it as one more step in returning to normal between us."

"I'll absolutely be there."

Makoto couldn't help but to smile at the thought. Neither could Usagi.

Or, that was what she _intended_ to do. Instead she yelped. Loudly. She also unwittingly jerked her entire body straight into the air, stumbling as she nearly missed her seat on the way back down. However, she couldn't really be blamed for acting so strangely.

Ear-shattering explosions, especially those of the unexpected variety, tended to do that to a person.

—|1|2|3| **4** |—

Rafki's fire did not concern Ami as she easily countered it with her cool bubbles. However, her lack of an offensive capability resulted in her becoming trapped in a stalemate. It was an impasse that slowly turned toward her enemy's favor as maintaining the shield of bubbles proved a continuous drain on her store of magical energy. While Ami tried her best to maintain her composure, there was a very good reason for her growing panic. If something did not change, and soon, she would lose any sort of safeguard and become a sitting duck to the raging inferno.

 _What can I possibly do to beat this thing?_ _I can't keep this up forever, but it's the only move I have._

A tremendous spiral of flames suddenly managed to break through the foggy barrier, tearing the girl away from her thoughts and forcing her to dive out of its path. The singeing of her skirt's hem was a timely reminder of the creature's ferocity and the potent attack it possessed. It was only training, however, and Usagi could terminate the simulation before she became seriously injured. Otherwise, she faced the very real and horrifying prospect of being killed by a youma that was considered one of the easiest she would face in the near future.

She extended her arms and sent forth a stream of bubbles to meet yet another incoming ball of fire, fully intending for it to smother the flames as it had done many times before. Instead, she had to furiously backpedal to avoid being ignited by the blaze. Her magic was weakening faster than expected. Soon, Rafki had the advantage, and it wasted no time in exploiting it by pushing the girl closer and closer to the edge of the ravine. There would have been no hope for Ami if it succeeded at that task, and she was just as painfully aware of that fact as anyone else.

 _Level two and I'm already about to be defeated with ease._ Another mass of scorching flames prompted her to shuffle backward, and her desperation increased once more. _I truly must be useless to my princess if this is the case. Beating Darangel must have been pure luck and nothing more._

The heel of her boot fell against the cliff edge and at that moment she knew there was no more running away. Her paths forward and side-to-side were blocked by the inferno that surrounded her. She briefly considered jumping, but without her Sabão Spray she would have been an incredibly easy target. There was no way out. She was trapped, and her adversary was moments away from sending forth the finishing blow, a stream of flames so tremendous that surviving it, let alone escaping from it, was nigh impossible. She recognized the futility of shielding herself with her arms, but that didn't stop her from doing it. Interestingly, the thought that the simulation likely should have ended by that point never crossed her mind.

What _did_ cross her mind were the sage words of advice she remembered hearing from her dear friend and princess. Even as the lethal fire quickly bore down upon her, she closed her eyes and began to fervently believe in herself and in her abilities. There was no way she was going to lose. She _had_ to possess a means to truly fight given her position as one of the vaunted senshi, and she had a suspicion that merely tossing bubbles was far from the pinnacle of her strength. All that was required was to discover the extent of her powers. The feeling of warmth intensified as she feverishly probed her subconscious for any answer or even the smallest hint. As she continued to meditate a cold tingling sensation spread through her entire body despite the searing heat that engulfed her, and she could feel water droplets at her fingertips. She knew it wasn't sweat as it felt quite different and was on the outside of her gloves. It was a liquid that clearly could not have originated from the arid landscape, and more importantly it was a sign she had found the solution to both of her problems. Moments later a phrase came into her mind, words that seemed awfully familiar to her despite never having uttered them before.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

The few drops of water at her hands circled her body and coalesced into a large stream, soon creating a veritable river that punched through the incoming inferno. An almost deafening roar accompanied the attack and surprised both the target of its fury and its originator. Not only was the ice-cold torrent loud but it was incredibly swift as it had found and overwhelmed the youma within the blink of an eye. It struck the beast with such immense force that it immediately burst into a cloud of frozen dust. Never before had Ami released such a potent assault upon anything. The sheer awesomeness of it all left her motionless and staring wide-eyed into space for several seconds.

"Ami-chan…" Usagi uttered with equivalent astonishment. She was completely oblivious to the scene, her attention wrested away from her conversation with Makoto and to the battle by the massive rumble.

"I did it," Ami whispered.

"Yes, you did. I'm so proud of you. That's two enemies in a row you defeated by yourself."

Ami slowly shook her head and allowed a small grin to tug at her lips. "I mean, I finally have an attack. An _actual attack_. I truly am a warrior now."

She promptly collapsed to her knees and fell flat on her face.

"Ami-chan!"

"She must be truly exhausted," Luna said. "I doubt she has ever used that much magical energy before. Nor has Makoto for that matter."

"Do you think I should call off their training for the night?"

"Unless you intend to torture them, I would highly suggest it." She dutifully ignored her princess's irate glare.

Makoto and Ami returned to the control room a few seconds later, the former girl setting the latter upon the floor as gently as she could before she slumped down against the back wall. In almost no time at all a blond blur dashed the short distance from the console to kneel next to her reposed friends.

" _Whew!_ Ami-chan's a bit heavier than I thought she'd be."

Before Usagi could respond to Makoto's comment, a faint moan filled the air, one the pair recognized as Ami's. A pained whisper followed soon thereafter, drawing everyone's attention to the girl.

" _Ugh_ … I-I'm okay… Just n-need… few m-minutes rest…" A pant-filled beat, and a deft head turn to glower at the brunette. "Also… I h-heard that… Mako-chan… H-heavy… my b-butt…"

Any concern melted away from Usagi's visage after the latter comment. "Looks like Ami-chan's going to be just fine."

Indeed, the two senshi were in vastly better shape mere minutes later. By then, Ami was sitting upright and looking no worse for wear, while Makoto appeared as though she could stand another round in the simulator. Not that Luna would ever allow such a thing.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to get back home," Usagi said, motioning toward the exit. "Though, not before rewarding our new warriors with a light snack."

"You're not fooling anyone, Usagi-chan." A smirk graced Ami's lips as she hauled herself to her feet. "Still, I think I could use a little bit of food after exerting so much effort."

"Oh yeah, same here," Makoto added. "Though, don't forget your disguises. Unazuki-chan would have an absolute heart attack if she saw you guys suddenly show up here."

The Disguise Pen appeared in Usagi's hand as if by magic. "Already a step ahead of you. Anyway, shall we."

After a pair of bright white flashes, Usagi—donning the same disguise as before—opened the door and walked through. Makoto started to follow, but a light tug on her arm by a similarly camouflaged Ami prompted her to stop.

"Ah, Mako-chan, I should give you this before we go out." In her other hand was a communicator similar to Usagi's but light green in color.

"I know you had to make a new communicator for Usagi-chan, but I already have one."

"Not like this, you don't. Now, I'll need your old device since it's no longer very useful."

Makoto sighed and reached into her pocket. As she handed the older communicator to Ami she asked, "What's so special about the new one?"

A giggle preceded the wry smirk that spread across Ami's lips. "I'll tell you later. We don't need your jaw dragging along the ground all the way home. Anyway, Usagi-chan's waiting on us."

The taller girl could do nothing but shrug and wonder what all of that was about as she followed her strangely secretive friend back into the arcade.


	7. Heating Up

**7 | Heating Up**

For her, it was a peaceful scene to lay across the rooftop and stare into the early-morning sky. She enjoyed the solitude of her perch and the baying of the stiff breeze as it wove through the trees. The act of peering into nothing more than a solid mass of thick, grey clouds, while depressing for most other people, seemed to ease her stress. And what stress it was. Her mind strained under the weight of all she had to contemplate, as though the entirety of her universe pressed down upon it and upon her soul. As though her fate depended on each tiny decision she made. However, so long as she had that rooftop to herself, nobody could interrupt her—

" _Hey!_ Yeah, _you_! Just who th' hell are you and what'd you think you're doing on my damned roof?"

The colossal tremor that shot through her entire body revealed volumes about how much she anticipated just such a circumstance. After several tense moments and a few raucous deep breaths, she shifted to her knees and bent her head over the edge of the gray tiles. Gravity pulled her blond hair across her eyes as they locked onto the green counterparts of an older woman. That person was almost seventy years old, she assumed, and was either the owner of the house or someone related to him or her. What was blatantly obvious to her was the woman's palpable irritation. In the end, all of that was irrelevant compared to the fact she was spotted. However, she had a plan to deal with that nuisance. It was not the best plan she could construct on the spur of the moment, but it had to do. She mentally cursed herself while plastering a sickly sweet smile onto her face.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, ma'am. You haven't seen any strange people running around here, have you?"

"That has nothing to do with you being on my roof and causing a ruckus." The woman's already stern visage seemed to become even harsher. "Now, tell me who you are already before I call the cops to drag your butt down from there."

An exasperated Sazaratha pulled herself upright so she could both empty the blood that had rushed to her head and sigh loudly in frustration. She ensured her annoyance was well hidden as she addressed the woman once again.

"Okay, okay. No need to get violent. I'll leave your roof if you promise to answer a few simple questions for me. It's very important for an ongoing investigation I'm conducting."

"Investigation my ass. I know you're not a damned cop." She began to leave the windowsill, and Sazaratha could barely hear a reference to something about a shotgun as the woman departed.

"Well, that went splendidly." The blonde righted herself and sat on the roof, idly staring off into the distance while running a hand through her hair to partially untangle it. She then smirked as a tiny spark of flame ignited between the fingers of that same hand. "Well, it looks like I'll have to do Plan B after all. Sucks to be her."

The old woman knew nothing of that plan when she jogged out of her bedroom and into a nearby closet. Inside was her trusty old pal, a twin-barreled shotgun that she normally used for hunting and protecting her property. It was that second task that she had set her mind to when she grabbed a box of twelve-gauge shells and expertly slid one into each barrel. It only took her a few seconds to complete that action, after which she ran down the stairs. However, she did not get much farther than her living room. She felt her heart leap straight into her throat when she saw the rooftop intruder out of the corner of her eye. That younger woman's casual pose as she sat on the sofa, with her arms spread out and her legs loosely crossed in front of her, was something she found very off-putting. How she ever managed to break into her house without detection, or without even opening the locked front door, added to her perturbation. But, that did not stop her from rounding about and aiming the muzzle of the shotgun squarely at the blonde's chest.

"That looks like a really nice shotgun. I've seen one of those before." Sazaratha gave the woman a mischievous grin. "I'll tell you what. Since you don't seem to be in the mood to answer any of my questions right now, I'll give you a free shot at me. But, I warn—"

Not in the mood to answer questions was a vast understatement. The woman did not even let Sazaratha finish her wry statement before pulling the trigger. A sharp blast assaulted her ears, ones accustomed to hearing the explosion of such a weapon through earmuffs. She lurched backward, a result that was the combination of the shotgun's recoil and the disorientation brought on by the sound pressure. The bright yellow light that flashed before her eyes added to her momentary misery. It only took her a few seconds to recover, but in those few seconds she realized she had placed a sizeable hole within what used to be a perfectly good sofa. At the same time, as she stared at the mangled white strands of urethane and polyester that littered her floor, she felt that very same heart sink deep into the pit of her stomach.

"I'm sorry."

Her voice was more mocking than remorseful as Sazaratha wrapped one arm around the woman's waist and the other around her neck. She felt her prey squirming and straining to escape her grasp, but she knew the effort would have been futile. Her lips hovered barely an inch from the woman's ear, which made her whisper sound all the more threatening.

"I guess I won't be hearing any answers to my questions from you. So sad."

A few minutes later, Sazaratha emerged from the basement, nonchalantly shrugging as she crossed the threshold into the kitchen. She was very much alone.

"Well, that's not the best way to begin, but that idiot woman had to be a complete pain in the ass. Thankfully the old hag was a widow, as I don't want to create too much noise here."

She carelessly plopped onto the remains of the sofa and unhurriedly gazed at the fixtures that surrounded her. Despite her half-hearted attempt to drag the process out, it only took her a minute to fully investigate the living room and some of the chambers directly adjoining it.

"Eh, it's not much. In fact, it's utter shit. But it'll have to do. And it's somewhere that fake queen will never suspect I've gone, which is perfect as far as I'm concerned." A light sigh preceded the smirk that twisted her lips as she pushed her body up from the sofa. "Oh well. I guess I'd better hurry up and do what I need to do here, because I don't want to be late for my next engagement. I do hope that our dear Sailor Mercury doesn't mind a bit of unannounced company."

—|1| **2** |3|—

The sun was on the precipice of sliding under the horizon, but there was still more than enough light to see without the aid of the streetlamps. The park in Katsushika, the largest in the twenty-three special wards of Tokyo prefecture, was still quite inhabited despite the late hour. Among the patrons were two men who stood near the tree line and watched a pick-up football game play out on a makeshift pitch. One of the men, a rather average-looking individual with blond hair, smiled as he saw one of the competitors dance past a defender and kick the ball past the goalkeeper into the back of the net. He clapped in the same way that the small audience closer to the pitch did upon noticing the goal, though his motivations were very, very different. That fact was noted by the man standing next to him, a slightly taller person with tightly curled black hair and a heavier, more-athletic build.

"It was that good, eh? Or, is it more the case you're just happy everything's going according to plan so far?"

A grin tugged at the other man's lips. "Both. Though, I was never really a fan of the sport, which is understandable given the fact that I never had any time to partake in it."

"When do we ever?" His chuckling would have sounded strange to any bystanders given his deep baritone, but there were none within earshot. "Anyway, I have to wonder how much energy we could obtain from this scheme. I mean, if anything were to happen to either the ball or the so-called ref, then a full twenty percent of our scheme just collapses into shambles."

"I understand that, but it's your job to make sure that doesn't happen." His smile disappeared as the blond-haired man, Jadeite, turned to face his companion. "Now, so long as the senshi don't find out about this then things should be fine for you."

That companion, Major Grayson, slowly nodded. "True. And, I don't mean to suggest a lack of trust in Rocha's plan, especially since I signed off on it. It's just, seeing it in person, it's a little unnerving. Besides, the senshi aren't even the sole problem this particular part of the plan might face. What if someone steals the ball or the youma somehow loses it? I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it might."

"Those are valid concerns, but they also have easy solutions. It's not very difficult to find a new ball, even if we do have to sacrifice a day's worth of energy gathering."

"I suppose you're right about that."

Jadeite turned away from Grayson and from the ongoing game and started a slow walk along the path leading to one of the park's exits. "Anyway, we should return home," he said as he departed, prompting his subordinate to follow him.

For them, home was a pair of rather tiny two-story houses in Adachi that sat immediately adjacent to one another. Even then, that was not nearly enough space for the group that was stationed there. It might have been sufficient if the eight officers were the only personnel necessary to run the operation, but each had underlings who also required housing. Those unfortunate people, which numbered a few dozen in total, had to occupy rooms in nearby hotels. The task of ensuring that the disparate groups efficiently traveled from one place to another nearly sent Captain Maldonado into a conniption fit. Nevertheless, it was all they could obtain in the short amount of time they were there, though they had plans for more expansive accommodations in the near future.

Along the way, Grayson held his stomach with one hand after hearing it grumble. "I guess I'm getting a bit hungry after all. I hope you don't mind if we stopped over at a nearby restaurant to get something to eat."

"I'm not really in the mood to eat anything right now, but you can go on ahead if you'd like." Jadeite expelled a soft sigh with a slow shake of his head. "I'll probably just head back to main camp instead and catch a nap before getting something to eat there."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm worried about your sudden lack of energy. You weren't anything like this a few days ago."

"You're not the only one who's told me that, but I assure you I'm perfectly fine." His eyes narrowed as he began to glare at Grayson, his irritation starting to get the better of him. "Now, you should probably go eat before _you_ end up lacking any energy."

"Yes sir."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but the intensity of his superior's glower forced him to change his mind. Instead, he merely nodded before turning down one of the side streets. He figured Jadeite could easily take care of himself, occasional bouts of fatigue and all.

Though he had never before visited the place in person, he knew the path he took lead to a small restaurant there. Prior investigation of the place revealed that it mainly served noodles, though other types of traditional Japanese food was served there as well. He was not a connoisseur of that style of cuisine, and in fact he had never eaten any such thing in his life, but his curiosity drove him to at least have a go at trying some. Besides, it only made sense if he was going to be staying there for months on end.

It only took him a few minutes to arrive at the restaurant, at which point in time another patron of the establishment nearly barreled clean over him. He pushed himself upright and was about to complain loudly when he saw who the perpetrator was. There were two benefits to his predicament. The first was that the person was nice enough to stop and apologize for knocking him over. That alone might have been good enough, but his mind blatantly ignored that fact. Instead, it proceeded directly to the second good thing, which was the fact that the person who had run into him was a woman, and a fairly attractive one at that.

"Oops. I'm so sorry for knocking you over." She extended a hand to help him regain his balance, which he took eagerly. "I don't often run into people like that, but I've had quite a busy day and I didn't see you there until it was too late."

"Believe me when I say that I truly don't mind." He turned a friendly smile to her, one that was only partially reciprocated. "It's actually a good thing you've run into me."

Whatever grin her lips held at the time swiftly faded. Her sudden intense stare, along with her act of snatching her arm away from his grasp, momentarily caught the man off guard.

"Really? This had better not be the start of some lame pick-up line, as I'm seriously not in the mood."

"It's nothing like that," he said, shaking his head emphatically.

"That's good to hear." Strangely, she smiled again, and the fact it was at full force only further confused Grayson. "So, I imagine the reason for your presence here is something more mundane."

"Well… eating is a mundane act, if that's what you mean." His shrug punctuated his nervously-delivered words.

The woman nodded. "Indeed. Fortunately, you've come to a fairly decent place to do just that." She turned toward the door and was about to pull it open, but was surprised to see him already reaching for the handle.

"No, allow me."

"Thank you, but I can assure you I'm more than capable of opening doors myself." Nevertheless, she did not hesitate to walk through the entrance, with a perplexed and upset Grayson following close behind.

"I'm fully aware of that." He clenched his hands into fists as he stared at the back of the woman he found both alluring and inscrutable. "I was just being a good gentleman."

"And, I fully appreciate it. Honestly, I do. Chivalry is a dying art in this day and age." She stopped just before the hostess and turned to face him, her fierce gaze conveying absolute seriousness. "But, at the same time, maybe it deserves to disappear as it's clearly outlived its usefulness."

All he could do was shake his head in defeat. "I-I'll keep that in mind."

She turned away and approached the hostess. The smell of the food being cooked was delicious and the ambiance was inviting, but he had second thoughts. Maybe he would revisit the place under less stressful circumstances. The woman he had just met certainly was beautiful, but his initial interaction with her had unnerved him, to say the least. Because of that, he quickly surmised the chance that she would accept dining with him to be approximately zero.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come along and join me at our table?"

No matter how casually he tried to act in walking behind the woman, he knew full well that she recognized his initial stupor and subsequent shock. It had to be expected given everything that had transpired beforehand. She seemed to take it all in stride.

"Now, I'm sure this is your first time here, but the food here is really good."

Grayson nodded in amazement. "How could you guess?"

"Just call it intuition." She covered her mouth with one hand to stifle her giggles as she grabbed the menu with her other hand. "Also, it's the fact you're clearly not from here. You certainly don't look Japanese, and your speech seems to carry quite the American accent."

"That's because I am American." He looked askance as he spoke, but despite his concerns and his lack of preparation for such a scenario, his words were not false.

The woman exhaled a weary sigh. "It's a very interesting country that I would like to visit again if I had the free time. The problem is that I don't see myself having such a luxury in the near future."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The low tenor of his voice expressed sympathy. "I assume it is your work that keeps you so busy."

"It's not the worst thing in the world as I absolutely love my profession, but breaks are few and far between."

"What is it that you do?"

She shook her head in apparent disappointment and hesitated for a few seconds before finally giving him an answer. "I'm sorry, I probably should have introduced myself earlier if I was going to talk so much about myself." A nod and genuine smile substituted for a more formal bow, but she figured he wouldn't mind. "My name is Meiou Setsuna, and I'm a doctor at a nearby hospital."

He finally found an opportunity to smile at her since the incident at the door, and he took full advantage of it. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Meiou-sensei. You can call me Grayson."

"Just Grayson?" One of her eyebrows lifted as her confusion became quite evident.

"Everyone I know and associate with calls me by that name."

"What about your family? Your parents had to have given you another name besides Grayson."

He froze stiff at the mention of family. As far as he knew, his brethren within the Dark Kingdom were his family, though he also was vaguely aware that he had a life before his recruitment by them. The problem was that he didn't remember much of it. He could not recall what his mother or father looked like, or if he had any brothers or sisters. For much of his time there he did not need to think about such distractions. His priority was and remained the utmost service of his queen and the resurrection of her rightful kingdom. Yet, that was not to say he did not know the answer to her question.

"Hello?"

"It's Emmanuel. You can imagine why I don't use it a lot."

"Fair enough." She grinned, and it seemed to put him at ease, at least for a short while.

For more than an hour the pair just sat there and talked. Their conversations spanned topics ranging from mundane to wildly esoteric. All the while a pleasant atmosphere remained between them, one that convinced Grayson that maybe he had an honest chance with her. Despite lacking any real time for serious dating given his mission or his impromptu back story of working as a businessman for an international corporation, feelings of optimism swelled within him. It seemed possible she would not oppose seeing him a second time. In fact, she might even want such a thing, given her status as a single woman. The difference in age between them, with Setsuna looking no older than twenty-five while he was in his early forties, did not appear to be a hindrance. Thus, he asked the question on his mind and listened with confidence as she gave her reply.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not interested in going out with anyone right now." Her tone was moderately compassionate, but not to the extent that he didn't get the hint right away.

"So… um…" Words failed him, and his poise was on the brink of a spectacular collapse. Fortunately, she came to his rescue just in time.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm certain we'll see each other again." She momentarily shifted her gaze away from his and sighed with either trepidation or expectation—he wasn't entirely sure. However, a playful grin graced her lips when she turned to him once again. "In fact, it'll probably be sooner than you think."

With that parting statement, she pivoted and walked away. Short of him chasing after her, which was an act of desperation he wanted to avoid, she did not give him an opportunity to say goodbye. Instead, he began to stroll in the direction of the house that was both his home and field base for the foreseeable future. It was far from his perfect ending, but he had avoided a much worse fate. That tiny seed of hope buoyed him for the rest of that short journey, and as he walked a single thought passed through his mind:

 _I really do hope so._

—|1|2| **3** |—

Nobody paid any attention to the woman who stood across the street from the large and stately house. No part of her features or dress appeared out of the ordinary save her pink hair. Even then, it was more an oddity than a reason for suspicion. There was no reason for any bystanders to believe she didn't belong there, let alone figure out she truly wasn't the college student she professed to be. Besides, Sazaratha knew that anonymity was essential to the success of her mission, and the only way she could effectively disappear was to be as nondescript as possible. She let her eyes fall to the dainty silver watch that dangled from her left wrist. According to that timepiece it was six-thirty that evening, and the sun was already slipping below the horizon, leaving behind a dark-blue canvas fortunately devoid of clouds.

She searched for any hint of light coming from the windows but found none. It meant that her target likely was away from home for the moment, which was unusual for a Sunday night given the onset of classes the following morning. However, an equally valid interpretation was that curtains blocked any light normally emanating from within. That prevented passive observation of the residence from a distance, which was a small annoyance at best. Sazaratha lacked no confidence as she crossed the street and stopped before the main entrance, appearing to knock on the heavy wooden barrier. However, she had other plans before making her presence obvious. She knew she could detect the energies of the senshi and the princess from a distance, and that was what she attempted to accomplish first as she closed her eyes and slipped into deep concentration.

 _Okay, where are you, you silly little girl? I certainly hope you're home so I can get this done quickly._

Seconds later, she opened her eyes and shook her head in disappointment. From her vantage point she had failed to perceive any semblance of the girl's aura. Granted, the house was large and solidly constructed, decreasing the effective range for which she could accurately distinguish Mercury's energy signature. A further complication was that she likely would not be able to sense a normal senshi from any more than ten feet away.

"Dammit," she muttered. "There's no way I'm going to be able to merely sense whether this bitch is at home or not from the outside. I guess I'll just have to go inside and search from there."

Easier said than done. No way would Mercury's mother have just let her inside, especially not after the girl's strange disappearance and even stranger reappearance. She swiftly decided upon a more drastic method of entering the house, one that employed a fair amount of shock value when done correctly. Of course, the move was incredibly risky. Immediate death potentially awaited her if lacked intimate knowledge of the interior layout or the location of her greeting party.

Clearly, standing before the front door was a waste of time and gave her zero new information. Her best bet was to find a window, preferably one not shrouded by curtains. She worked to maintain a casual attitude as she searched for such an object, lest any nosy neighbors suspect her as a burglar. Eventually she wound up at the back of the house, having walked up a curving driveway that terminated at a two-vehicle garage. That's when she hit the proverbial jackpot.

 _Ah ha!_ _That's_ exactly _what I'm looking for. Finally._

In an instant, she disappeared from the driveway, leaving a ferocious blast of yellow light in her wake. She just as quickly materialized in the middle of the dining room about twenty feet away from where she once stood. Assuming she wasn't alone, she dropped into a fighting stance, scanning her immediate vicinity for any threats. The darkness hampered her search, yet that same difficulty also brought about a revelation.

 _Okay… where is everyone?_ Her eyes widened, as much a result of shock as it was physiology. _I would have expected somebody to be home, either Mercury or her mother. This is strange._

Strange, yet not entirely unexpected. After allowing her eyes to adjust, she carefully walked through the dining room and into the living room. Again, she found herself alone.

 _I'm getting this feeling that there's nobody here, at least in this part of the house. The bedrooms may all be upstairs though. If so, she could be up there studying as she seems to do all the time, and completely oblivious to my presence._ A wicked smirk came to her lips as she considered that possibility.

She found the stairs leading to the upper floor to her left. Only a foolish amateur would bother with climbing them, however. Teleportation was the answer, especially when she could see exactly where her feet would land—assuming she ever touched the floor.

The Shitennou had frequently used levitation as a part of their espionage missions. It allowed Kunzite to learn the princess's untransformed identity, the greatest intelligence-gathering victory the Dark Kingdom had ever achieved. Many reconnaissance youmas used levitation in limited scenarios to quickly reach the rooftops of tall buildings or to scan parts of the city from an elevated location. Most of the time levitation was a dangerous maneuver as it required the practitioner to have extremely detailed knowledge of their surroundings in all dimensions. Furthermore, they had to be careful when and where they levitated and the altitudes they attained. However, Sazaratha used levitation for a more mundane yet tactically smart purpose: footsteps were loud, so why bother?

After the typical golden flash, she stood at the top step of the staircase and hovered an inch above the hardwood floor. Four doorways were nearby, one adjacent to the stairs and three others attached to a short hallway. Those three doors were already open, flooding the upstairs with a complete lack of light.

 _So… there's nobody upstairs either? The hell?_

A soft thud emanated from the spot where her feet impacted the floor. Her eyes wandered to the darkened room immediately next to her as she chose that as the first target for investigation. As there was no need for caution, she didn't hesitate to draw a flashlight from her purse. The furniture and decorations adorning the space told her that it was not the room of a fourteen-year-old girl, even for one as mature as Ami. She shook her head and returned to the hallway.

 _Clearly her mom's room. Drab, sterile, and utterly utilitarian, just like its owner. No wonder her husband divorced her._

The next room she checked was the bathroom, an American-style that joined the bath and toilet. She saw nothing that usually indicated a person was living there. No soap, toothbrushes, shampoo bottles, or any other toiletries were visible. A quick check of some of the cabinets found them mostly deserted of frequently used items.

 _It almost looks like they've left on a vacation, but it's the end of March._

Ami's bedroom provided the ultimate substantiation of her hunch. Large furniture such as her bed, dresser, and writing desk remained, but many other expected items seemingly had disappeared. Nothing rested on the desk's smooth glass surface, atypical for someone who uses it daily. The bed was made, but the ruffles in the surface of the sheets suggested that a heavy object once was placed there. Then there was the bare closet. Some random garments still hung on the rod, but there were far more unoccupied hangers than made sense. She darted from the closet to the dresser and opened one of the drawers, only to find it and others completely empty.

 _When the hell did they leave?_ Sazaratha nearly threw her flashlight to the floor in a fit of rage but caught herself at the last second. _How could we lose track of one of the senshi as well as the princess? I certainly hope my oh-so-illustrious queen had a youma or two covering the house, or it's going to be a pain in the ass figuring out where she ran off to, especially given who we're talking about._

Time and several deep breaths vented her frustration. The recollection that she still had a tremendous advantage over the senshi also helped matters.

 _I guess I'll have to refocus my plan on a different one of those morons. It'll take more planning and work than I'd like as they're a lot stronger than Mercury, but I think I can pull it off._


	8. Clearing an Infestation

**8 | Clearing an Infestation**

Violet eyes cautiously peered around the corner as anxiety flowed through every vein of their owner. She was utterly certain there was something immensely evil in that very sacred room, but every attempt at obtaining even the smallest glimpse of it ended in outright failure. Her pale skin tingled with both anticipation and fright as she held her breath and inched her head further through the threshold. This time she would succeed in locating the foul being, whatever it was, and either trap or destroy it—whichever fate it ultimately chose. She had an ofuda already in hand and was prepared to toss it at a moment's notice. However, she would not get the opportunity as the second she was able to clearly see the interior of the room the evil sensation disappeared. Strangely, at that same moment the Sacred Fire flared up tremendously before extinguishing itself, leaving nothing behind but darkness and a few warm cinders that clung tenaciously to the kindling.

 _What the hell?_ Rei's fury grew the longer she stood in the middle of the nearly pitch-black chamber. _The fire was pretty strong, and then it died just like that. And, whatever was in there with it disappeared at the same time… again._

She made her best attempt at searching her surroundings for any trace of malevolent energy, but much like her previous tries they only seemed to appear when she wasn't looking for them. Her already high frustration only increased with that latest failure, as did her anger. That she knew she couldn't possibly have gone insane was her solace. Instead, the constant cat-and-mouse game caused the girl to become extremely suspicious of what was happening within the temple.

 _I know there's something here that doesn't want me finding it. I'm not making this up, as my grandpa also can feel it. My guess is the Dark Kingdom is doing this. They know who I am, but instead of coming after me they're just trying to slowly drive me crazy. What the hell kind of tactic is_ that _?_

She shook her head in disgust, opened her eyes, and stomped out of the murky room, headed for her bedroom so she could don her ceremonial robes once more. It was an early Wednesday morning which meant that it was a school day, the second day into her eighth year. Being late was the last thing on her agenda, but she had to restart the fire before she could leave. The last thing she wanted was to be distracted by whatever creature was messing with her mind, but as long as she was unable to find the abominable thing its unwanted presence would be her sole thought. The cruel games it played with her only worsened since she first detected the negative spiritual energy it intensely yet sporadically emitted two days ago. On the first day that enigmatic being appeared only once and did nothing more than shock and frighten her. The next day it appeared three times before letting her recover from the fright. Both times the psychological assaults occurred early in the day, while she was performing her chores and preparing for school. That she had no sense of what it was that incessantly perturbed her only deepened her fear.

However, instead of being consumed by anxiety, she decided to confront the source of the problem. She convinced herself a youma had infiltrated the shrine with orders to make the fire senshi's life miserable. A clear part of that order had to be to flee whenever she was close to spotting the creature, or else she would have trapped the thing with her ofuda and attacked it a long time ago. Instead it kept running away, disappearing to places unknown only to reappear when she dropped her guard and left, slowly building her frustration up to the extremity attained upon knowing she would have to reignite the Sacred Fire.

 _I sincerely hope I can get rid of that annoying thing once and for all,_ she thought as she purposely strode down the hallway. She did not notice her grandfather running after her until she was about to open the door.

"Rei!" She froze and slowly turned slightly dimmed eyes to him. "I take it you've already noticed that there's an evil presence here."

A frustrated sigh preempted her petulant response. "Not just that, but it managed to put out the Sacred Fire. I was just about to get dressed so I could restart it."

"I'll have Yuuichirou-san take care of that, so don't worry about it." His gentle expressions swiftly turned dour as he spoke of the more pressing subject. "Anyway, I think we should take some measures to defend the shrine from this evil spirit."

"It's most likely just a dumb youma the Dark Kingdom sent to mess with me. I can deal with it once I find the thing, but I'm not sure it's anything too serious."

"But still, I believe it's a smart thing to do, especially for something powerful enough to extinguish the Sacred Fire. Besides, you're not going to be here all day, and who knows what this thing is capable of or what its aims are."

That latter comment forced Rei to momentarily freeze in place. "Do you think I should stay here and deal with this thing?"

"Only if you truly feel you must. I'm not forcing you to skip school and stay here for our sake."

The shrine maiden slowly shook her head before worriedly gazing at her beloved grandfather. "I'm sure things will be okay if I took one day off, even if it is the second day of the new term. I'll probably be punished for my absence, but I don't care. If I left and something happened to you two in my absence, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"Very well." He walked over to the girl and gave her a brief but heartfelt hug. "I'll get everything we need prepared so that, hopefully, we can get rid of this thing once and for all."

"While you're doing that, I'll go restart the fire." By then her tone had eased, though internally she remained quite miffed at the thought of dealing with that aggravating being.

Her grandfather nodded before departing, leaving Rei to remove her school uniform and dress once again in her ceremonial robes. A few minutes later she exited her bedroom wearing the traditional red and white garb and headed toward the fire room. She made sure she had her transformation pen handy as she was determined to rid the place of the bothersome youma upon finding its hiding place. As she approached the door leading to the Sacred Fire she felt the familiar negative aura that signified the presence of that very threat grow with each step.

"Okay, I'm done playing around with this damned thing," she muttered under her breath as she reached into her pocket and removed the transformation pen.

Yet, even as she was prepared to take the form of the senshi of Mars the painful tingling sensation that indicated the existence of negative energy disappeared, apparently along with its source. It left her simultaneously feeling confused and enraged as she knew the thing was playing with her once again. Nonetheless, she opted to continue with the act of transforming, and after a few seconds and the obligatory bright flash of red light the fire-imbued warrior was charging toward the door. However, as soon as she crossed the threshold she froze in her tracks and blankly stared at the scene that greeted her in middle of the room.

 _What the heck is going on?_

Dancing before her eyes were the tremendous yellow flames of the Sacred Fire. Complete and absolute astonishment was not enough to describe her feelings of the sight.

 _Grandpa couldn't have done this since it's only been a few minutes since I told him about the fire going out. I'm sure Yuuichirou didn't do it either._

"Hello, Rei-san. I hope you don't mind me restarting the fire for you, as I knew you were about to do that anyway." The smug, feminine voice sounded strangely familiar to the girl's ears. However, it was muffled enough that she couldn't associate a name or face with the voice.

"Who are you?" Comparatively, her tone was quite shaky.

"Somebody you know very well, and yet nobody in particular."

"You're the one responsible for the negative energy, aren't you?" By then her fear had morphed into anger. Her eyes darted about the room in a frantic attempt to locate her conversation partner.

"What negative energy? I don't feel anything particularly evil around here. I would know if there was, especially since sensing auras is my specialty."

"I'm not talking about right now, but earlier."

"That might have been true, but as far as I know there is nothing here you should be afraid of. Not anymore."

"I don't believe you!"

"That's a shame." Disappointment laced her loud exhalation. "I came all this way to look after you and the first thing you do is accuse me of being evil. All I want to do is help you."

Rage swiftly morphed into disbelief. "Help me?"

"Yes. Help you." The woman then adopted a more pleasant tone. "I was told that you needed help in taking care of something that was bothering you, and so I came to assist you. I don't quite know what I'm supposed to be looking for since I just got here, but I hope whatever it is shows up again so we can deal with it."

"Who told you to come here to 'help' me?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Not right now. That person doesn't like to release her identity, as it makes her job much easier."

"Well, if that's the case, how is it possible that I can trust you if I don't know anything about you or what you intend to do?" Rei had started to turn red with fury. She would have pointed furious eyes at the source of her anger but for the fact she had yet to find it.

"I'm sorry to say, but you'll just have to for now. Maybe through my actions I can earn your trust."

Rei merely snorted in response to the suggestion, which was an amazing display of self-control given her famously short temper. Instead she attempted to calm down well enough to slip into a state of deep concentration and pinpoint this mysterious woman's location. She figured the being could not have been too far away as she could clearly hear her. Her eyelids slid shut and a few seconds later her body emitted a pale red light as she attempted to sense any extant forms of energy. Indeed, she managed to find a tremendous source of negative energy within the fire room. Unfortunately for her, it was extremely powerful—so much so that simply touching it might have been instantly lethal—and stupendously quick. Furthermore, it was bearing down on her position, and there was no probable way she could move fast enough to evade the strike. It appeared her first true contact with the creature that haunted the shrine and previously annoyed her to no end ultimately would lead to her demise.

—|1| **2** |3|4|5|—

Minako exhaled a heavy sigh before looking down at her plate and the food heaped upon it. Her mouth watered slightly from the smell and the sight. Not every day did she have the opportunity to eat such food, let alone two days in a row if her visit the previous evening was counted. Maybe a hamburger wasn't the healthiest thing she could have chosen to eat, but it tasted exceptionally good, and that was all she cared about at the moment when it came to sustenance. She lifted the burger from the plate and was about to take a bite from it when her eyes spotted a familiar chestnut brown ponytail belonging to a tall girl at the far end of the café.

 _Makoto…_ A mood of panic swept her.

The appearance of her fellow senshi created a dilemma for the girl who, at least for the moment, was the leader of the group. One part of her wanted to duck away and hide as she knew Makoto was not happy with her. Another argument with a girl who obviously surpassed her in physical strength was not something that sounded inviting. She remembered—barely—what happened to Rei in their last confrontation. However, a separate part of her soul wanted to do whatever she could to fix the problems between the two girls as quickly as possible so that they could return to being friends. Weeks had passed since the girls had seen each other, a length of time she felt was utterly ridiculous. It was that latter facet that ultimately triumphed and prevented her from doing something potentially embarrassing. So, as the brunette spotted the blonde and slowly approached the booth, Minako made no attempt to leave.

"Would you mind if I joined you?" Makoto asked tentatively, as though the two had never before been acquainted.

Minako slowly shook her head and extended a hand to the empty bench across from her. "I'm actually glad you came."

Makoto slid into the seat and latched onto the gaze coming from her booth partner with a similarly glum stare. The pair remained in a quiet deadlock for several seconds before Makoto finally found enough resolve to break the proverbial iceberg.

"How are things?"

"I wish I could say they were good, but I would be lying."

"What's wrong?"

"You mean, beyond the obvious?"

Makoto slowly nodded, fully expecting some sort of further response. What she did not anticipate was nearly a full minute of uncomfortable silence wherein Minako's stare was wholeheartedly fixed on the tabletop. During that entire time, the blonde just sat there almost frozen, not even bothering to touch the burger sitting in front of her despite her powerful hunger. When she did speak, her solemn words delivered in an almost inaudible whisper came as a near shock.

"I've done some horrible, horrible things."

"We all did."

"No, I'm talking about what I did to you. Sure, I was a terrible leader in ordering you to attack Usagi-chan, but even worse was when I tried to do the same to you." Makoto's eyes narrowed slightly as she easily recalled the incident that Minako painfully described. "Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Even though the entire atmosphere of the conversation pointed toward that inevitable request, the question still caught the brunette slightly off guard.

"What?"

" _Please_ , Mako-chan!" Minako said more forcefully as she finally lifted her eyes to meet the puzzled gaze aimed at her. It was blatant from the tear streaks on her pale red cheeks that she had been silently crying, and she continued to do so as she reiterated her plea. "I'm sorry for attacking you and for trying to take away your transformation pen. I'm sorry for calling you a traitor. I'm sorry for trying to hurt you the same way I hurt Usagi-chan. I can understand if you don't want to accept my apology, but I'm begging you…"

Makoto's eyes widened as she felt a mixture of concern and sympathy before those same eyes narrowed once again. Understandably she was skeptical, as Minako was a good actor and could be quite convincing when necessary. However, in her heart she knew that the girl was unquestionably sincere in her apology, and it would have been both inappropriate and unhealthy to hold a grudge against her. So, she did what she believed to be the most sensible thing. She reached across the table and gently grasped one of Minako's lightly trembling hands. The gesture seemed to work as the convulsing stopped and the tears lessened.

"I'm also sorry. I overreacted when you and Rei-chan confronted me and I almost killed you. I didn't want to, but I did."

Tears flew from Minako's cheeks upon her shudder and sharp gasp. "Y-you tried to… to _kill_ me? When? How? I don't remember you trying to do anything like that."

Makoto shook her head in dejection and sheepishly averted her gaze. "I didn't mean to. Rei-chan tried to grab the transformation pen from my hands and I tossed her away. However, I ended up throwing her into you and you hit your head against the stone so hard that I thought for a second that you were dead right then and there. You were out cold and apparently didn't wake up until later that day when someone from the Dark Kingdom—I figure it has to be Kunzite—came to the shrine and attacked you."

"Kunzite was at the _shrine_?"

Minako's countenance shifted from one of perplexity to unadulterated horror. In her distress, she almost forgot she was surrounded by other patrons and allowed her voice to rise. In response, not just to Minako's actions but the blonde's unwitting response to her unspoken question, Makoto exhaled a heavy sigh.

"I'm afraid I hurt you far worse than I thought I did. I'm sorry for that as well."

The fearful look disappeared from Minako's face and she merely stared at Makoto with a quizzical expression for several seconds before responding with optimism. "I guess we're both sorry for a lot of things. But, as long as we're willing to forgive one another for them we can move on and become friends once again. And I'm willing to forgive you."

"In that case, I absolutely forgive you as well." A tiny smile graced her lips as she spoke, one that was reciprocated by the blonde.

Silence dominated once again, but the tension that had wracked both girls was gone. Instead, the atmosphere between them was one of contentment. It provided them a vital sense of serenity. Minako certainly needed that more than the brunette as she had yet to repair her relationship with Usagi. However, what was more important that evening was that it gave her an opportunity to finally eat the hamburger that had taunted her the entire time. And eat it she did, in a manner of voraciousness that would have made her princess proud.

—|1|2| **3** |4|5|—

The mere fact she could open her eyes at all both surprised and delighted the fire senshi. Only seconds ago, she was all but certain she was dead. She was ambushed and caught flat-footed, and as a result she could not evade the oncoming attack. All she wished for was that her demise would come swiftly and painlessly, and that her grandfather and Yuuichirou would not join her in meeting such a dismal fate.

However, she did not die. She did take a brutal hit, one that tossed her clear across the room and left her entire body aching and probably bruised, but she somehow survived. By some miracle, she was rescued by something… or someone.

"Are you alright?" That strange woman's voice seemed to resonate about the fire room, but in no way did it reveal her location—if she even had one.

"Barely," Rei said between ragged breaths.

"I'm glad, as I barely had enough time to erect the shield needed to protect you from that sudden blast."

"T-thanks, I guess."

"It seems that whatever being has inhabited this spiritual place has stopped trying to annoy you and instead is trying to eliminate you." The woman's voice had calmed from the strangely ominous tone it carried moments ago. "The good news is it shouldn't be able to leave here as I sealed this chamber with my magic. The problem is that it's still invisible, which means we can't do anything to stop it until we can actually see it."

"So… you're saying you can't do anything about it either?"

"Hey, I'm not a god or anything like that. I'm constrained by my capabilities just like you. And, just like you, I can't hit what I can't see. But, if you don't want my help with this, I'll leave you to your fate."

Rei briefly shuddered as she remembered what could have happened to her if that woman's shield did not materialize just in time. "Okay. I'm sorry. I guess nearly dying made me jumpy and irritable. But, I do honestly appreciate what you did for me."

The familiar negative aura returned a few moments later, followed shortly thereafter by a blast of dark energy that originated from the far corner of the room. It was a tremendous swirling red and violet orb that moved much slower than the previous strike but was no less lethal. At the same time the sphere traversed across the room, the flames from the Sacred Fire that hitherto had been burning steadily flared and rose to lick the ceiling before suddenly dying out. Rei had been tracking the sphere but briefly lost her concentration when the fire went out and pitched the room into darkness. She did not know where the attack was until she felt something slam harshly into her side and fling her into the wall.

"Rei-san!"

Much like in the aftermath from the previous impact, the shrine maiden felt immensely thankful to still be alive, albeit in incredible pain. Despite the raucous complaints from her muscles she slowly pushed herself from the cold hardwood floor and onto her feet. The anger boiled inside her and searched for an outlet, though with nothing tangible at which to direct her rage she found it difficult to control. It was starting to dominate her emotions and guide her actions, which by all logic was an extremely perilous way to conduct a battle. However, there was no way she was going to let that vile creature defeat her in her own home, especially with her cherished family so dangerously close.

"Where are you, you goddamned youma? Come out and show yourself!"

"Please calm down, Rei-san," the woman said as gently as possible. "That's not going to help you."

"Oh, and what _is_ going to help me?"

"You must remain patient. The thing that is attacking us is doing so because it feels it is cornered and cannot escape. That much I can clearly sense. If we can get it to expend so much energy that it becomes weak and drops its invisibility spell, then we should be able to find and destroy it."

"But how do we get it to do that without it throwing that energy at _me_? I'm hurting enough as it is."

"The thing is targeting you specifically, so I don't know if I have an answer to that question." Sensing Rei's imminent explosion of anger, she deftly added, "I'll do what I can to fortify the shield that protects you so you won't be injured so much."

Another attack sped toward Rei, this time an odious green sphere that cackled with white-hot bolts of lightning. Her eyes reflexively widened in terror as the electrified sphere raced at her head, prompting her to duck. Like the first attack, however, it moved faster than the impulse from her brain could travel through her nerves and down to her leg. Suddenly it exploded right in front of her face, shoving her backward a few feet but causing her no further injury. Nevertheless, it did instill within her mind an amount of fear that was on par with the earlier attacks.

"It's lashing out, but the shield blocked its attack that time."

"I-I'm glad. T-thanks for t-that."

No matter how hard Rei tried at that moment, she couldn't stop from trembling. It likely was the reason she missed and was not put off by the woman's haughty tone.

"Hey, it's why I'm here."

The pervasive atmosphere of dark energy that existed since the second attack slowly dissipated, and the Sacred Fire flared back to life for the second time that day. The energy's abrupt absence utterly baffled Rei as the creature responsible for it had seemed intent on killing the girl.

"What the hell is this thing doing now?"

"I wouldn't let my guard down if I were you. It could just be biding its time, conserving its energy while waiting for another opportunity to strike. However, I won't leave your side and I'll do my best to help you."

Rei slowly turned about as she tried to survey the area around her and perceive as best she could the energy that filled the room. All she could feel was the warmth and positive energy from the fire, that in spite of the enigmatic woman's insistence that she had erected a shield specifically designed to prevent the loathsome creature from leaving. However, the lack of a negative aura was not a sign of the being's absence, and she was not about to relax or reduce her concentration for fear of being ambushed. No, she was going to do whatever it took to rid the shrine of the deadly pest, even if it meant remaining at the peak of alertness for several hours without respite, and without any overt sign of a threat.

—|1|2|3| **4** |5|—

The tips of Usagi's golden pigtails nearly touched the floor as she sprawled lazily across the unbelievably soft and comfortable bed and wearily stared up at the ceiling. It was not quite the same as her own bed—which likely was sitting in storage somewhere in Kyoto by that juncture—but she felt she could become accustomed to it. In any case, she felt fortunate to have the bed for that night, the result of a plan she and Ami had conceived to alternate who gets to sleep on the far more bearable mattress. As a reflection of their magnanimous natures, that arrangement arose from the fact that both girls constantly tried to take the firmer cot while graciously offering the bed to the other person. That Wednesday it belonged to Usagi, but she remained slightly reluctant as she wholeheartedly believed the water senshi deserved it more. After all, that girl was the one who, for all intents and purposes, was brutally and painfully killed.

However, she was not about to make any complaints that evening as she was exhausted after a long day of school. Her classes were more advanced and consequently more difficult than what she had taken while she was a student in Juuban. It was her decision to challenge herself mentally, and she was not second-guessing her choice one bit, but the need to remain constantly attentive during lectures still was new to her. Only a few weeks ago, the blonde was a horrible student who did not bother to demonstrate her plainly evident mental aptitude. No, she was not nearly as brainy as Ami, and math still was practically unfathomable to her, but neither was she stupid. That much she proved unequivocally.

 _How on Earth could Ami spend so much time in school?_ _One session per day is enough for me right now. Doing cram school on top of that would make me go insane._

Exhaling a sigh, she rolled onto her side and glanced at the time of 5:30 PM displayed in bright red numbers on the alarm clock. It meant that Ami would not return home for at least another hour as she had to complete the three-hour period of cram school. That annoyed Usagi to no end. How else could she sate her nagging desire to continue with Ami their conversation about the fancy new communicators? She briefly considered using hers to text Ami while she was in class, but her more logical side quickly nixed that idea. Not only would that not have been proper use of senshi equipment, she did not want to face an exasperated Ami—especially not after creating the bother in the first place.

Instead, after completing the mountain of homework her teachers assigned that day, she decided to indulge in one of her greater passions. She pulled from her shoulder bag a brand-new sketchpad and box of colored art pencils and set them down on the desk. It was the second sketchpad Saeko had purchased for her—willingly, of course. She still had no idea what happened to the first one she received from the doctor, and ravaging her bag failed to turn up any sign of it. Meanwhile, her original sketchpad was in storage along with the rest of her belongings. The blonde hoped to see them again soon as they knew they did not have to continue with that aspect of their deception, but in the interim she was grateful to have something she could use to draw.

 _Now, what am I actually going to draw?_

The answer came soon, and just as quickly she grabbed a pencil and began to make light strokes across the smooth white paper that took the vague form of a human. Indeed, after a few minutes it was evident that the person whose figure progressively became clearer and more refined was the lightning senshi. It was a bright and cheerful image of Makoto, one that utterly contrasted with the girl's distressing childhood. Usagi decided to place her within a background consisting of the lush forest that composed a significant part of Higashiyama ward and Ikuko's magnificent garden. It only made sense to Usagi, given Makoto's love of nature. It took a little longer than a half hour to complete the sketch that she fully intended to give to her newly recovered friend the next opportunity she had to visit her.

"I sincerely hope she likes it," she said softly as she carefully detached the page from her sketchbook and placed it into a protective sleeve. A warm smile crept onto her lips. "No, I'm positive she'll love it."

At about that time the melodious ringing of her cell phone broke the silence. She reached into her bag and removed the handset but did not immediately answer the call. The number displayed on the outer screen was not one immediately familiar to her, but she had the uncanny feeling she had seen it somewhere before. Hesitantly she flipped open the lid and raised the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Ah, hello. May I speak with Tsukino Usagi?"

Usagi instantly recognized the lady's polite tone and how she knew that telephone number. As such, her buoyant reply fit perfectly.

"It's me, Azusa-san. I'm so glad to hear from you. How are you and Mariko-san?"

"We're doing rather well, all things considered." A muted cough punctuated a brief pause. "I don't know if you've heard or not, but our studio had received quite a bit of damage a few weeks ago."

Of _course_ Usagi knew, but in no way was she about to reveal such awareness over an unsecured telephone connection. Still, she couldn't help striking such an apologetic tone, one that nearly gave everything away.

"I heard a little bit about that. I'm sorry that it happened to you guys."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's true that, right now, nobody knows who did it or their motive for trashing the place. We hope the police are able to uncover more information about that and find the perpetrators. However, it's only a small setback in our plan to produce the photo book, and we intend to start shooting in early July as planned."

"I'm glad."

"I figured you would be. As I said, the shoots themselves weren't affected by this, though some of our camera equipment was destroyed. The bigger problem is that we'd need to find a new place to house the studio, which isn't so much a concern when we're on location but it will be afterward when we're processing the photos."

A few seconds of silence fell over the line. Usagi's mind wrestled with conflicting thoughts during that agonizing eternity. On one hand, she knew that secrecy concerning her identity was of utmost importance, and that the fewer people knowing equated to fewer people placed in mortal danger. Of course, her family had to know, especially since they were nearly killed despite their prior ignorance. With the Dark Kingdom knowing so much about them already, that wasn't much of a threat. The only person she could immediately justify letting in on her secret was Naru, and that was because she considered the girl one of her best friends. In fact, she probably was closer to a sister, and probably the only true friend she had who was not a senshi. However, her need to conceal her identity clashed with her intense desire to give Azusa some closure and an honest explanation of what had occurred that fateful evening. She had every intention in joining the photographer and her partner in their photo shoot. Because of that, the last thing she wanted was to feel so much excruciating guilt every time she encountered one of the two women. But, despite not being the one known for such a logical personality, that mindset eventually overcame her natural compassion. She balled her free hand into a tight fist, clenched her eyes shut, and took a deep breath in an attempt to find calm before she spoke once again.

"D-do you, um… know where the new studio is going to be?"

Azusa heaved a loud sigh. "Right now, I have no idea. If worst came to worst, I could do it at my home, though space is at a definite premium here. On the other hand, our current studio might be salvageable if everything works in our dealings with the insurance company."

"I absolutely hope it does." Her words were barely a whisper by then, but somehow Azusa was able to hear them.

"I do too." By then, she seemed more at peace with her situation, though Usagi could not say the same thing. "I'm sorry that I had to tell you any of this, but I figured it was important that you knew since you're so integral to this project of ours."

"Really?"

"Oh, of course!" Azusa began to chuckle. "Mariko-chan still can't shut up about you, even though she hasn't seen you for weeks. If Kousuke-san wasn't in her life, I'd seriously wonder if she weren't infatuated with you. And, even then, I'm not entirely sure. She just might change her mind the next time she sees you."

Usagi counted her fortunes that she was on the phone and not speaking with the woman face-to-face. That way, her wide-eyed expression of utter shock and nervousness could remain hidden. However, her voice was less able to conceal those emotions.

"I-I'm… uh, happy she f-feels that way about me, I g-guess."

"I'm _kidding_ , Usagi-san." By then, Azusa was on the verge of full-blown laughter. "If there's any truth in this universe, it's that Mariko-chan's heart fully belongs to Kousuke-san, and vice versa. Having said that, it's definitely true she likes you a lot."

Though she still felt some apprehension, Usagi allowed a faint smile to tug at her lips. "Well, maybe I'll get a chance to see her again sometime in the future."

"I do hope so. I know you're quite busy at this time with school just starting for you, but if you ever have a break one of these weekends, we'll be thrilled to see you. Just let me know ahead of time so I can put Mariko-chan on a leash."

"You don't have to worry about that. I've survived her enthusiasm twice before."

"That's good." The two shared mirthful giggles for a few seconds. "Anyway, I have to go now. The last thing I want is for Mariko-chan to keel over from exhaustion. I know she tends to push herself to the brink, but that time she collapsed truly frightened me. That's something I never want to experience ever again."

"I understand. Please take good care of her, and tell her I said hello."

"Absolutely. Have a good night, Usagi-san."

"You too, Azusa-san."

The blonde closed the phone shut and allowed the hunk of metal and plastic to fall from her hand as she collapsed across the bed once again. Unlike before, her exhaustion did not arise from the loads of schoolwork she had to endure. Her eyes dimmed and eventually began to water as she blankly stared at the ceiling. She could all but sense the guilt eating at her soul, yet there was nothing she could do about it. Neither Mariko nor Azusa could know the truth, not at the current juncture. Maybe not ever. It certainly was not the only time she had to be deceptive about her secret, nor would it be the last. But, for some reason, this lie hurt a lot more than the others. Tears ran freely down her cheeks as she forced her eyes shut and tried to find sleep.

—|1|2|3|4| **5** |—

Time seemed to move at an agonizingly slow pace as Rei continuously surveyed the room holding the Sacred Fire, checking every inch of the chamber over and over again for any sign of the enemy that had attempted on three separate occasions to kill her. She intermittently sensed surges of negative energy that were indicative of an impending attack and, upon each occurrence, quickly spun about to face the apparent threat. However, each time the signal mysteriously disappeared before she could lay her eyes on her intended target, assuming such a thing even existed. For five solid hours she tried to locate and combat what she thought to be a youma that haunted that room and persistently pestered her. Fatigue had long since set in despite the encouraging words vocalized by that enigmatic and hidden woman. It was one o'clock in the afternoon, meaning she had been awake for almost nine hours. Moreover, she did not have an opportunity to eat breakfast before the battle, and lunch certainly was out of the question given her precarious state. However, she believed her demise would come at the hands of that obscured beast if she dropped her guard for even a few seconds, thus placing Yuuichirou and her grandfather in severe danger. That was not something she would ever allow if she had the choice.

"Are you doing alright, Rei-san?"

"I'm fine," Rei replied, although her lethargic tone belied her optimistic words.

"Just hang in th— _watch out_!"

At that moment, a massive blast of negative energy, taking the appearance of a swirling orb of red fire through which passed several bolts of greenish-white lightning, raced at the startled senshi. Only at the last second could she feel the attack bearing down upon her from behind, meaning that it was too late for her to dodge upon swiveling to meet it. The gargantuan and immensely powerful glowing ball struck her headlong and tossed her into the solid wall twenty feet behind her. Luckily, she had the presence of mind to raise her arms over her had to provide a modicum of protection from the attack, but it was not enough to prevent the worst effects of the second impact. She groaned in agonizing pain as her body fell from the wall and to the floor.

 _What the hell? Did that woman's shield not work?_

She attempted to push herself up from the hardwood floor, but the attack weakened her so greatly that she could hardly budge from the cold surface.

"Rei-san! Rei-san, stay awake! The youma is about to show itself!"

The fiery warrior was still conscious despite her pathetic state and could hear the woman's pleas, but words alone were of little assistance. Nausea and dizziness had forced her eyes shut, and a constant ringing in her ears since the moment her head struck the wall impaired her hearing. Nevertheless, she could sense, and somewhat see through her eyelids, a pair of tremendous flashes of light, the latter occurring about five seconds after the former. Immediately thereafter the negative aura that already was forceful with the latest assault grew even stronger.

"That must be the energy from the youma that attacked me," Rei groggily whispered to herself.

As she made that statement, the pain that previously overwhelmed her was replaced by a passionate fury and desire to exact her revenge against the monster. She soon rose to her feet and turned her eyes in the direction of the apex of that evil energy. For the first time that day—and the two days prior—she saw something tangible against which she could deliver her attacks and her vengeance. She wasted no time in taking advantage of her opportunity by pressing together her hands and igniting a massive ball of red flame at the tips of her index fingers.

"Fire Soul!"

If the shrine maiden's vision were clearer, she would have observed that her opponent was just as surprised to be assaulted as she was eager to be dispensing that strike. Supposedly a woman with long, violet hair and pale blue eyes, one whom Rei had seen many times before though always in passing, in reality it was a youma. However, Rei did not know that youmas were not all the same. The more adept its ability to mimic a human, the lesser its offensive capability. Bar a few details only noticeable upon very close inspection, this youma imitated a person to perfection.

However, Rei did not know this. The only thing she knew as the ball of flame hit the youma and caused it to explode into a pile of sandy dust was that she was finally free from the relentless threat it supposedly represented.

"Finally!" she shouted as she felt the negative energy depart from the chamber.

Or so she thought. Almost as soon as she felt exaltation from defeating one youma, she saw another brilliant flash of golden light erupt in the far corner of the room. Negative energy surged in kind, which caused her to immediately presume that the two beings that materialized within the chamber were responsible for that aura. Those two youmas were very similar to the initial creature in possessing humanlike manifestations. Much like that first youma, they were utterly shocked to abruptly find themselves inside the shrine instead of surreptitiously monitoring the compound from the nearby tree line.

"Watch out, Rei-san! There were two more of those monsters hiding in here! I'll take care of one while you get rid of the other."

Rei retrieved an ofuda and held it in her hands as she leveled a menacing stare at one of the startled youmas, a feminine being similar to the first but with paler skin and differently colored eyes and hair. Not that any of those details mattered to her one whit. She tossed the enchanted paper at the otherwise evil creature while shouting _Akuryo Taisen_ , ultimately causing the youma to become frozen in place. The warrior then turned her attention to its partner, leaving that particular youma to its fate at the hands of the strange woman. Instead, she would concentrate her efforts on the youma that took the appearance of a taller man as she guessed that particular one was the more powerful adversary. She repeated her earlier actions and launched yet another flaming ball from her extended fingers. As expected she received similar results, causing her satisfied grin.

 _Yeah! Got that bastard!_

Meanwhile, the youma Rei decided to leave alone to the woman suffered a far crueler fate than it would have received from experiencing the business end of the senshi's scorching attack. The being's skin bubbled and pulsated, changing from opalescent to purple and finally to black as it was filled with far more negative energy than it could handle despite being born from evil. The creature wanted to shout in agony but the pressure on its airway prevented it from making any sound. Soon it exploded with a dazzling flash of yellow light, spreading golden dust across the room in its wake. Its only mercy was that the attack lasted mere seconds before its ultimate demise.

"I-Is there a-anything else we h-have to deal with?"

Indubitably, exhaustion caught up to Rei once again, and it caused her to speak sluggishly as she struggled to catch her breath. There were a few seconds of silence before the answer arrived, but the response was the one desired by the weary senshi.

"Nothing that I can sense. It seems your problem is solved."

"G-Great. T-thank you v-very much for your h-help."

"It _truly_ is my pleasure. I hope that's the end of your troubles, but if it isn't I'll be around to help you as best as I can. Until then, I hope you stay safe."

A small burst of air that flew around the chamber and slightly perturbed the flames from the Sacred Fire marked both her disappearance and the only palpable sign of her presence. The winded shrine maiden then fell to her knees as she heard the doors slam open. Burgeoning reverberations of footsteps foretold the appearance of Yuuichirou and her grandfather at her side. She was grateful for their safety in light of her recent destruction of what she considered vicious youmas.

"Rei…"

Her grandfather bent down at her side to help lift the girl to her feet. Yuuichirou crouched at the other side of the girl and gently placed an arm under hers.

"Don't worry. I finally got those youmas," Rei said softly as she allowed her transformation to fade with a dim flash of red light. The pair momentarily was stunned by the act as she returned to wearing her ceremonial robes.

Yuuichirou's expression as he looked toward the exhausted girl screamed outright confusion. "So, the thing that was haunting the shrine was an enemy?"

Rei nodded languidly. "There were three of them here, and they almost killed me, but there was this woman who came and protected me."

"Woman? What woman?" her grandfather asked.

"I—I'm not quite sure. I couldn't see her at all, but she could talk to me and I could talk to her, and she blocked many of the attacks. I probably would've been dead hours ago if she weren't around." The two men briefly turned perplexed and startled expressions to one another before the shrine maiden reassured them of her health. "I said don't worry. I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Well, in any case I sincerely hope there won't be a repeat of this as Yuuichirou-san and I placed protective wards around the shrine. We tried to get you to help us but there was no way we could open the doors until just now."

"That was the work of that strange woman trying to keep the youmas from escaping." She gave the pair a light smile and received a pair of understanding nods in return. "Anyway, I think I need a long nap and something to eat, although right now I don't know which one I want first."

"I'll go make us all lunch," the elderly man said with a chuckle. "You'll definitely want that before you go to bed."

"Now that you say it, I think that probably is a better plan."

With Yuuichirou's much-needed assistance just to maintain her balance, a horribly blushing Rei slowly staggered out of the fire room. It was blatantly evident she would need the remainder of the day to restore the energy sapped by the long and arduous fight, but there was plenty of time left in the afternoon for doing exactly that. Without school or any further responsibilities required of her, and the immense satisfaction gained from clearing the shrine of the bothersome youmas, the raven-haired girl knew she would have a truly restful and enjoyable slumber.


	9. The Amazing Mr Grayson

**A/N:** Apologies for the delay in updates, but real life is like that at times. Anyway, onward we go:

 **9 | The Amazing Mr. Grayson**

Minako sported a tepid smile as she departed from midday lunch with Makoto in an ultimately vain attempt to conceal her melancholy. At some point, their conversation had shifted to what she and the shrine maiden could do to win back Usagi's trust and affections. She always ended up feeling that way whenever she contemplated the effectively nonexistent relationship she had with her princess, one she desperately wanted to repair yet had no clue how to go about doing it. Makoto was of little help. Granted, the brunette was fortunate enough to not be as big of an idiot as she and Rei had been. Nevertheless, such foresight also meant not having any useful experience to dole out. As far as she knew, a miracle would have been necessary if she were going to become friends again with Usagi.

A piercing shriek tore the girl from her almost robotic motions and piqued her vigilance. She sensed it came from somewhere very close to the street along which she meandered, but she could not tell exactly where. In any case, somebody was in serious trouble and she needed to check it out at the very least. If it were a youma attack, one that seemed to be quite rare in recent days, then it was her duty to defeat that agent of darkness. She could not afford to neglect her duties no matter how miserable she felt. On the other hand, if it were not one of those hated monsters, then she could at least be in position to alert the local authorities. Though not necessarily one of her responsibilities it would at least demonstrate her conscientiousness. It would prove a bit of her worth as both a senshi and a human being.

It was the second yell, one far more bloodcurdling than the first, which told her where she needed to sprint. A chill shot down her spine as she realized the shout could only come from someone much younger than her. After a quick check of her surroundings, one that showed her unusually isolated for a public street just after noon, she doubled her pace and dashed into the nearby alley. There she found that her suspicions were horrifyingly correct.

A young girl, who Minako guessed was no older than ten, cowered against the wall of the alley, her body trembling in fear and despair. The girl's torn blouse suggested that she had been caught in some kind of struggle, but otherwise she was uninjured. Surrounding her were a handbag and a jacket far too large to fit her, both recently abandoned. Something tremendous had occurred, and Minako was too late to prevent it.

 _Dammit. What the hell kind of senshi am I to let somebody get hurt like this, youma or not?_ She focused her gaze upon the crouching brunette. _At the very least I should see what I can do for this poor girl._

She slowly approached the girl and tenderly placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl yelped and frightfully winced, but when she saw who had touched her she immediately seemed to calm down. Minako cautiously smiled as she looked over the child.

"Don't worry. You're perfectly okay now. I'm going to go get some help. Could you tell me what happened to you?"

"My mom and dad were taken from me," the young girl hoarsely whispered. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she spoke. "Monsters came by and grabbed them."

"What kind of monster?"

"I-I don't know. It was big, way bigger than my dad. There were several of them. He tried to save my mom and me but the monsters made him disappear. They made my mom disappear too. But, they ran away before they could hurt me."

 _So, it was a youma after all. Or multiple youmas it seems._ Minako momentarily looked upward at the sky as the thoughts ran through her mind. _What the hell are they trying to do now? In any case I should go and transform and track the things down. From what she said they couldn't have gone far. I'll tell the others as well since I don't think I can take on more than one by myself._

"Thank you."

"What?" The girl's sob-filled words of appreciation caught the contemplative blonde unaware.

"They ran away because you came for me."

"I'm sure your parents will be just fine." She gave the girl a sympathetic smile. "In the meantime, we should get you out of here and call the police."

"What about the Sailor Senshi? Should someone call them as well?"

"Um… I don't think you can call them, really. It doesn't quite work that way." She chuckled, and then cursed herself for how nervous it sounded. "They just… know when these sorts of things happen, I guess. But, don't worry. They'll definitely find the monsters and rescue your parents."

The young girl solemnly nodded. "I hope so."

Minako turned her head toward the alley's entrance to better see what she had barely glimpsed from the corner of her eye. She caught a peek of something or someone suspicious—she couldn't exactly tell which one it was—dashing away at great speed, though she heard no footsteps. Whatever it was, it caused her to pull away from the girl and run off investigate. Maybe it was one of the youmas or maybe it was something else. Unfortunately, she never had an opportunity to find out as the moment she was a few steps away from the young girl she felt something smash into her back, knocking her face-down into the ground. At the same time, she heard the girl's earsplitting scream.

"The monsters! They're back!"

She pushed away from the hard concrete and twisted around to lay her eyes on the beasts, but by the moment she was in a position to see anything she could see nothing at all. The entire alley was shrouded in complete darkness. Given the brilliant sun and cloudless sky, the last thing she expected was an inky blackness that was inappropriate even for nighttime. In her mind, she was convinced it was the work of those youmas, as were her pounding headache and churning stomach. If she couldn't see anything then neither could anyone else, and thus she thought it safe to transform. However, it did not mean she was alone. She could plainly hear light footsteps slowly creeping away from her and muffled whimpers of distress. Also, the blast of dark energy that tossed her into a nearby wall reminded her that the monsters were also still there.

It required about a minute for senshi of love and beauty to recover from that strike. Her head still felt as though it was about to explode, she still felt like vomiting at any moment, and though her vision had returned the most she could see was murky mess of brown and gray. Worse, she no longer could hear the girl's muted sobbing. By then, it seemed she truly was alone, and her anxiety began to skyrocket.

 _What the heck just happened? Did those things take her too?_

Pushing herself to her feet and turning around, she could see a large, swirling patch of blue, but not much more than that. Was that the exit to the street? She was determined to find out, as soon as she could steady herself. One outstretched hand found a wall to her right, while the other grasped nothing but air. She made sure her fingers remained in contact with that rough surface as she cautiously made her way forward. Blue continued to fill her vision until it practically was the only thing she could see at all in that direction. It was clear to her that she had not reached the end of the alley. Disappointment reigned, though that emotion quickly gave way to curiosity. She cautiously extended her left hand in front of her. It proved to be a mistake. Merely touching that blue mass brought her immense pain, as though her fingers were on fire. She swiftly yanked her hand away and waved it about to remove the burning sensation. Luckily, it worked.

 _I guess that's also those youmas' fault, right? What the heck am I up against?_

Those creatures, whatever they were, didn't give her time to ponder the answer to that question. Instead they pressed their attack, sending another blast at the defenseless warrior. That one caught her in the back and threw her straight into that painful barrier. Fortunately, it had enough energy behind it to cause her to bounce off the obstruction and land somewhere in the middle of the alley. The attack was not strong enough to knock her out, but it blinded her yet again and left her feeling woefully dizzy.

 _What should I do? I can't see where anything is!_

The sound of the young girl's weeping broke through the silence, driving up her already intense nervousness. What in the world could she do to save her poor victim from unknown assailants when she couldn't see any of them? She trusted in her first instinct, which was to move closer to the source of the crying. Maybe that way she would be in position to protect the girl from any attacks even if she could not counter them. With great determination, she shuffled toward the sorrowful sound.

That was how she found herself lying face-first on the hard ground after taking only three paces, the result of yet another blast of negative energy from places unknown. Her entire body ached as she once again pushed herself to her feet. The crying, interrupted by a reverberating scream upon that attack, was louder, so quite possibly that infernal beast had done her the favor of knocking her closer to the child. However, it was apparent she wasn't close enough, and the next strike only ensured she would face an uphill battle in reaching that young victim.

—|1| **2** |3|—

"Why are we here again?" Haruka's disinterest was palpable as she stood in front of the door with arms akimbo. "There are better things I could be doing—things _we_ could be doing right now."

Michiru responded to her lover's obstinacy with a pout. "Oh, cheer up, Haruka-chan. You know Meiou-san wouldn't ask us to travel all the way here without a good reason."

The reply was met with a loud scoff. "And the reason is?"

"I'm sure we'll find out soon. Just stay patient."

"Great."

Annoyance set in quickly, and she began to tap her foot against the stone walkway, earning her a sharp glare from Michiru. Her partner was mere moments away from delivering a full rebuke when the door opened. Their attention immediately was drawn to the woman standing before them.

"I'm pleased the two of you could make it here on such short notice." Setsuna gave the pair both a genial smile and shallow bow before stepping away from the threshold.

"Well, we weren't really busy to begin with, so it's no big deal," Michiru said, grinning playfully at Haruka.

The blonde shook her head and chuckled, albeit mirthlessly. "Nope, not busy at all. Just preparing for an upcoming race—at Suzuka, no less. That's it. Nothing _truly_ important."

"Haruka-chan!"

"Don't worry, Haruka-chan." Unlike the previous laughter, Setsuna's muted giggles were purely jovial. "I'm all but certain you will do absolutely fine in your first race there."

"You really think so?" Her eyes widened with nervous anticipation. "Could you tell me how I'll finish?" She was not deterred when the time senshi shook her head. "Please? Not even a tiny hint?"

"Even if I could predict the future with perfect accuracy, I wouldn't dare tell you. Besides, how can you derive any pleasure from the experience if you already know the outcome beforehand?"

Haruka muttered something inaudible before shrugging and resigning to defeat. "Meh. I guess you're right on that point."

"That I am."

Setsuna grinned at Michiru's amusement and Haruka's more obvious petulance before inviting the pair to take a seat at a nearby sofa. She sat across from them in a separate cushioned chair. Waiting for them on a nearby table was a teakettle and three already-filled cups, along with an assortment of scones. The presence of refreshments seemed to soothe the blonde's exasperation.

"Anyway, it would be very impolite of me to invite you all to my humble abode without making an honest attempt at being a decent hostess. Please help yourself to anything you'd like—within reason, of course."

"Thank you. And, on the contrary, your place is actually quite beautiful," Michiru said as she took one of the teacups. A polite smile toyed with her lips. "I might actually say that I'm slightly jealous of some aspects of your decorative design."

"You might say it's a taste borne from experience." She lifted the remaining cup from the table and took a small sip, grinning with delight before a more serious expression fell across her visage. "So, you might be wondering why I invited you all the way over here."

"You could say that," Haruka said.

"Well, for one, working in that hospital at all hours of the day or night only to return to an empty house does make me feel somewhat lonely." A very genuine pall of depression seemed to fall over Setsuna as she spoke, although subdued optimism soon displaced it. "Even if you aren't the same women I knew before and to whom I had grown accustomed, I absolutely do enjoy your company nonetheless."

"So, you're saying this is nothing more than a social visit?"

"Come on, Haruka-chan." Michiru's fury was starting to emerge, though she managed to catch herself in time before exploding at the other woman. She turned to Setsuna and bowed. "I'm sorry for my partner's continued rudeness, Meiou-san."

"Please call me Setsuna. You never have to be so formal with me. Also, I truly don't mind her antics, as I can understand her mindset." She grinned at Haruka, who clearly appeared startled, though it was unknown whether her reaction from the sudden attention or the gesture. "Suzuka is a very dangerous racetrack, especially for a beginner, despite your prodigious talent. That, combined with our most evident concerns, can make for quite a bit of pent-up stress, right?"

"I'm perfectly fine." Her defensive posture only led to even more suspicious stares from her two companions. "No! Really, I am!"

"Of course." Setsuna shook her head and smiled again, although that time it was a more cryptic expression than the one that preceded it. "Anyway, I do hope for some more opportunities in the future where we can meet as normal individuals—or as normal as a trio of senshi could ever be. But, for now, the main reason I called you two over is because I have some important news I want to share with you."

"I'm very eager to hear what you have to say," Michiru said, turning a quick but utterly fierce glare toward Haruka, who merely shrugged in reply.

"Well…" There were a few seconds of silence during which Setsuna slowly took in and released a deep breath, settling her nervousness in the process. "You cannot reveal anything I'm about to say to anyone, not even to our princess. Do you understand?"

The extreme apprehension her two guests felt was justifiable, but they both slowly nodded, wishing to hear her explanation out of sheer curiosity if nothing else. Upon their answer, she spent a few more moments gazing at her feet, indubitably deep in thought, before slowly turning an intense stare in their direction.

"I will be gone one month from now and there will be no way to contact me, nor will I be able respond to any attacks against our princess. My absence will last for two weeks. As much as I wish to, I cannot tell you where I am going or the precise reason why. It's… just better that I keep it a secret until the time when its revelation is absolutely necessary. But, I need you two to make sure that our princess is absolutely protected during that time."

"That's nothing you'd have to worry about," Haruka said with confidence. "I'll be damned if anything bad happened to my Koneko-chan."

"Is there some specific threat against her?" Michiru's voice was deep and full of worry.

Setsuna hung her head and sighed. "None that I know about, but the Dark Kingdom is always a threat. Sazaratha even more so."

"Nevertheless, we will do whatever we can to ensure Usagi-san's safety," Michiru said.

"Good." A faint smile appeared on Setsuna's lips. "I guess I just needed to get that off of my chest. It has been perturbing me for so long." She stood from her chair and slowly walked behind it. "That's all I really needed to tell you, unless you don't mind staying here and listening to me babble about this guy I met a few days ago."

Her last line, intended as a throwaway statement and delivered so nonchalantly, immediately piqued Michiru's interest.

"What guy? How did you two meet?"

"You could say I ran into him as I was getting dinner, though it's more accurate to say that I ran over him instead." She began to chuckle, a feeling of levity that proved infectious when the ocean senshi soon joined her in laughter.

"Hmm… that's quite a unique way of introducing yourself."

"Indeed, though he seemed to take it all in stride. In fact, I would say that he was rather happy for the encounter."

A lively grin spread across Michiru's lips. "Looking at you, I can't say that I blame the guy for feeling that way."

"I fully appreciate the compliment, though I must admit that my appearance is quite different during those times I'm going back and forth from the hospital. Or, to put it another way, I wasn't exactly looking my best then."

"Well, I hear there are some men who find that look more attractive."

Haruka, who until then had paid little attention to their banter, groaned loudly in annoyance as she stood from the sofa. "Sorry. I'll be outside if anyone needs me."

Though it was the sudden movement that initially captured her attention, Michiru was soon drawn to the expression of boredom scrawled across her lover's face, frowning in response. "Oh, don't be that way, Haruka-chan. Setsuna-san's a great hostess and an even better person, and you should be more interested in what she has to say." That grimace disappeared as she turned a telling look to Setsuna while continuing to talk to the blonde. "Besides, there's much more to this conversation than what Setsuna-san's letting on right now, something that I suspect will involve the two of us."

"You're absolutely correct, Michiru-chan. Though I do find Mr. Grayson—that's the name of the gentleman in question—somewhat intriguing, it's not in the way you'd originally suspect given the course of our discussion. After all, it's true that I'm far too busy for dating, and I told him that much."

Haruka shrugged as she looked at Setsuna in confusion. "So, what's he got to do with anything then?"

"Well, after we departed the restaurant I took the liberty of surreptitiously following him. It turned out my suspicion was correct that he was not a visiting businessman as he had claimed." She stopped and took a long sip of her tea before looking at her guests with a far more solemn countenance. "As I told you earlier, the Dark Kingdom is always a threat."

Michiru's eyes immediately widened from shock. "Dark Kingdom?"

"As far as I could tell," Setsuna said with a nod. "Remember that there are a number of normal humans associated with them, as we had seen in our last battle. As such, they don't give off any sort of energy signal as they lack magical powers. However, I felt a weak amount of negative energy emanate from the house he entered, and other nodes of such energy surrounding the place. Those probably come from reconnaissance-type youmas that are keeping watch."

"Do you know where they're located?" Unlike Michiru, Haruka's eyes were narrowed as she felt a new sense of purpose and the impending joy of defeating yet another threat to her princess.

"Certainly. It's a small house located in Adachi—"

Haruka didn't wait for Setsuna to complete her explanation, grabbing her car keys from her pocket as she started for the front door with an impressive gait. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Wait, Haruka-chan! Shouldn't we at least hear Setsuna-san out, in case there's more to this besides just a few people in a house?"

"Why? Unless Beryl happens to be there, I doubt any of them would last very long against the three of us."

"Maybe so," Setsuna interjected, her tone far calmer than what either of her guests had presented, "but you'd have to imagine the attention we'd receive when we attack some random house for no apparent reason. The Sailor Senshi murdering a bunch of innocent civilians would not make for good publicity."

"Yeah, but they're not innocent, and I don't care what people will think about us." Haruka's complexion seemed to grow redder by the second. "I'll be damned if I let those bastards sit around and build strength if I have the chance to stop them now."

Setsuna shook her head but otherwise maintained her composed appearance. "I don't particularly agree with our princess's mantra, but I do believe that right now is not the best time to strike. Besides, Beryl might not be there, but I did feel the aura of someone who might be nearly as strong."

"Sazaratha wouldn't be with them, as she has her own goals that conflict with Beryl's." Consternation initially dominated Michiru's features before it was instead twisted by perplexity. "It certainly can't be Kunzite since he was purified by Usagi-san."

"That's true, and the other Shitennou are either dead or permanently disabled, unless there were more than four," Setsuna said. "That alone is a reason we can't just rush in, since we don't know what we're dealing with."

Haruka emphatically punched her open palm with her fist, but when she loudly exhaled a frustrated sigh a few seconds later it was evident that she had accepted defeat. "Okay, so we can't go after them now. What do we do?"

"Right now, I suggest we keep an eye on them and monitor their activities so we can determine what they're doing here. It probably will be difficult with your racing duties, Michiru-chan's upcoming recital in Belgium—both of which I'm sure will be rousing successes—and my own departure, but I believe that impediment can be overcome."

A glint of deviousness shone in Setsuna's eyes when she turned her gaze to Haruka, one the blonde immediately noticed. That same sentiment shone through in the slightly lower tone she adopted when she spoke once again.

"Oh, and just because we're not going in with guns blazing, so to speak, it doesn't mean we'll idly sit by and allow them to gather strength. There are plenty of ways we can frustrate them without being obvious about our presence or our motivations."

Haruka slowly nodded. "I understand."

A light and yet wholly mischievous smile toyed with Setsuna's lips as she bowed before the other two women. "Anyway, I thank you two once again for coming here, and though I'd sincerely love for you to stay around a bit longer, I have to prepare for work. Granted, my shift does not begin for another few hours, but I think it's good if I went for an early dinner before then." Her grin widened. "Who knows? I might just run into Mr. Grayson again. I'm sure he would consider that worth his while."

—|1|2| **3** |—

 _Tired_ was only one of the words that described Minako as she delicately rolled onto her side and ultimately onto her stomach so she could push herself up from the oily ground. The attacks were not horribly menacing to her, and she had seen and felt much, much worse, but the inability to deal a blow against her attacker ensured that the unanswered strikes added up. She winced in agony as she finally made it to her feet. It was a routine that was played out in her mind, one she had just repeated for the eighth time within a ten-minute stretch. It didn't help that she was effectively blind that entire time, or that her vertigo and nausea continued to mount. That was why _aggravated_ also could have described the weary warrior.

The solid blackness that ensconced her began to fade, but it did little to actually help her see the world around her. Instead, everything was blurry to the point that she could hardly recognize anything. The most she could make out was three dark blobs towering over a smaller, lighter-colored blob all against a field of gray and brown. However, it was enough for her to understand what was going on. That smaller blob had to be the young girl, which meant the larger ones were the youmas trying to attack her once again.

"Help me! Please!" she heard the girl fearfully shout.

She inched her way closer to the congregation of monsters. As time progressed her vision steadily improved to the point that she could make out some distinct features. Her hand raced to her mouth to stifle a gasp as she noticed something strange about the creatures attacking that girl. Namely, they clearly were human forms, not the monsters she had expected. If those three were people, then what happened to the youmas? It was a question that she shoved to the back of her mind as she noticed their menacing postures. She swallowed hard and purposefully strode toward the three individuals. They would move away from the girl, by force if necessary. Then she heard the girl scream once again.

"Help! These are the monsters that attacked my parents!"

The blonde skidded to a stop as a bemused expression covered her face. There was no possible way that could have been true. However, she quickly changed her mind when she saw the bodies of all three men emit a brilliant gold light, one that did her poor eyes no favors. When the light dimmed, the figures she saw were only vaguely humanoid in shape, a far cry from what preceded it. The most obvious detail was that they were much taller than any normal human, and she could somewhat see that they were a sickly gray color. She didn't need any more information to know that they were evil and needed to be stopped immediately. Besides, they had blinded her and made her sick to her stomach, and she was not going to let them live for any longer than necessary.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

The golden links of pure energy shot from her hands and encircled the three youmas. She aimed the attack high enough so that, when she tightened the lasso around those beings it wouldn't inadvertently capture the girl. The child, for her credit, had enough of her wits about her to scurry away from the monsters, though only to the other side of the alley.

"I'm sick of dealing with evil creatures that stoop low enough to attack children!" Minako's rage, combined with her determination to defeat what she considered the scourge of her existence and do a great deed for the young girl gave her the power to call her ultimate attack.

"Rolling Heart Vibration!"

The intensely glowing multicolored heart leaped from her outstretched arms and corkscrewed toward the hapless youmas. They struggled to free themselves from their bindings but somehow lacked the energy to do so. Whether they expended it all on attacking her or on creating the barriers and oppressing darkness was a question for which she didn't care to learn the answer. All she wanted was to see three dead youmas. When the massively energized heart made contact, she was thrilled to know she was not disappointed.

"Yes!"

It was a weak exclamation, however, and she soon collapsed to her knees in exhaustion. Her chain disappeared and its warm energy vanished, but its work was done anyway. For the next few seconds she did little more than sit with her eyes closed and breathe heavily, occasionally swallowing hard in an attempt to assuage her nausea. Once she felt sure she was not going to vomit, she languidly turned her head to where she had last seen the girl. Her resulting gasp could be heard from the street. The space was completely empty. The girl was gone.

 _Where did she go? I could swear she was right there? Did she run away the moment I killed those cruel beasts?_

Suddenly her eyes widened in horror and pallor once again covered her face. She rapidly rose to her feet and swiveled her head about as she began a frantic search of the alleyway.

 _Where are her parents? They should have come back once I defeated those things… right?_

The question weighed on her throughout her fruitless examination of the passageway. It didn't help that she had no clue what they looked like, and the one person who could assist her with that no longer was there. However, not all hope was lost.

 _Where's that purse and jacket? I could probably find out who they are if there was some form of ID left in either one._

Strangely, when she returned to the spot where she remembered initially finding the little girl, there was nothing there. There was no purse, and there was no jacket either. She tilted her head slightly to the side as confusion once again washed over her.

 _Did she take them? I swear they were right here._

She was forced to shelve any further consideration of that issue as she had yet another recollection, one that was prompted by the distant sound of a ringing bell. It reminded her of the bell from her school, which in turn caused her to nearly have a heart attack.

"Oh my God! I'm completely late for math class! And we have a test today too. _Dammit!_ "

She hurried out of the alley, making sure to remove her transformation before she broke the threshold. The probability of her making it to the room in time for her to actually be allowed in and take the exam with her classmates was zero. However, that didn't mean she would not try to make it back to her school in record time. There always was a chance of her faking some kind of ailment and getting an official excuse from the school's nurse. She would do anything to avoid the inevitable agony that disappointing her mother with a failing grade would bring her.


	10. Reunited

**10 | Reunited**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I had a nightmare last night that has forced me to question my sanity. It was the worst dream I EVER had, and that's including every one of my visions. I know I'm not supposed to think like this after learning how much Usagi truly means to me. I'm not sure why this is happening. Some part of my mind doesn't seem to be listening to my heart. Or is it some part of my heart doesn't know what my mind knows? I honestly don't know. I hope I can find out soon. Maybe I can do something about it before I screw up and act on that crazy thought. I never believed in therapy, especially since most of my problems had to do with my idiotic father—who nobody believes is as heartless as I know him to be—or with me being Sailor Mars. However, if I keep having nightmares like this, then I may not have any other choice. I would gladly reveal my identity and a whole ton of other shit to a shrink if it means I don't accidentally follow through with what this dream predicts. I hope that never happens, though. If I ever do anything like that the very next thing I would do is kill myself, because my life would not be worth living anymore._

 _Anyway, my dream. This one was strange compared to the others where, at the very least, I was Sailor Mars and I was acting on that stupid notion that Usagi had tried to kill me. All of my previous dreams were like that, where I used my fire against her and killed her before ripping her brooch from her chest. That was the dream that almost became my horrific reality. But I know my hatred for her was senseless and that she never tried to hurt me, ever. That's one reason why this dream is so strange. The other is that I never was Mars and I didn't use any of my magical attacks. Instead, I felt like I had snapped and turned into some psychotic mass murderer, except Usagi was my only victim. She was the only one I wanted to kill._

 _Usagi was on the ground and I was standing over her while wearing the most maniacal smile on my face. She was deathly afraid of me. I could see it in her wide eyes. The bright, friendly shine that normally is there was long gone, replaced by a vacant stare. She had tried to run away, but I had her trapped in a corner and there was nowhere she could go. Her fear was so great she didn't even try to scream. I bent down closer to her and extended the knife I held in my hand over her chest. That was when she made one last, futile attempt to stop me by pleading desperately for me to stop while trying to push the blade away with her hands._

 _Thinking about it now, just hearing her voice makes me cringe. How could I do something so brutal to someone so loving as her? What drove me to continue despite such passionate cries? Am I really that much of a heartless monster? Is this what I really want to do to Usagi? God, I hope not._

 _Anyway… I completely ignored her weeping and her prayers as I pushed the blade closer and closer to her. I think I actually enjoyed watching her agony as she knew she there was nothing she could do and that she was going to die, by my hands no less. The blade slipped between her ribs and penetrated her heart. The sound I heard after that might have been the worst thing I've ever heard now that I think about it, but at the time it only pushed me to go further. I looked into her eyes as the knife sank deeper into her chest. Despite all the anguish she had to feel she still gave me the most sympathetic look right before the last bit of life escaped from her body. In my nightmare, I laughed at her pitiful expression. This morning I nearly puked all over the toilet at the same sight._

 _I don't know what this nightmare is trying to tell me. I really don't. The longer I think about it, though, the more scared I am of myself and of what I may do. I love Usagi. I absolutely do. Her life means more to me than anything, including my own life. Losing her friendship and having her hate me is the second worst thing that could ever happen. I finally understand this now. However, this is the worst, by a long shot. Not only would I lose her friendship, I would lose_ _her_ _… forever._

 _Please, if there is any being out there that can stop me from doing something so terrible, do so. Even if it means my death, that would be much better than this._

 _Forever yours,_

 _Rei_

—|1| **2** |3|—

An unshakable chill gripped Usagi's petite form and caused the girl to shiver almost uncontrollably. Fear gripped her and froze her body in place, not allowing her to shift her gaze from the ceiling. The only sound she immediately noticed was her own feverish gasping. Those were the occasional yet utterly unpleasant sensations she had experienced ever since her rescue from Beryl's clutches. However, the immense pain and fierce cold felt far worse that early morning than anything she had ever suffered in the past. For a moment she felt suffocated, as though a heavy weight had smashed into her chest and forced all the air from her lungs. That was in addition to the icy milieu that apparently stole into her bedroom and displaced all semblance of warmth, including that within her very soul. The worst part about it was that she had a very good idea of what caused her distress, and it only made her more afraid.

Once she had gathered her breath she hesitantly pushed away the covers and swung her bare feet over the side of the bed. She did not flinch when her toes made contact with the cold floor, for as far as she knew it was the warmest thing in the room. Her eyes soon found the faint red display of her clock. It was a few minutes before five o'clock in the morning, and thankfully it was an early Saturday morning or else she never would have been able to obtain a decent slumber. Actually, there was no guarantee she would have been able to find sleep, but at least she had a reasonable shot at it. She collapsed back into her bed and pulled the covers tightly over her body to take full advantage of that attempt.

A truly restful sleep came easily to the blonde and she reveled in the comfort of absolute nothingness—for about an hour. That was before a brilliant explosion of white light interrupted her peace and strongly piqued her curiosity. Snapping her head up from her pillow left her very disoriented, but no amount of dizziness could stop her from finding the source of that light. Not that it was so difficult a task when it nearly blinded her.

Still, having one question answered left many more unaddressed. Just what in the world was that tiny orb—barely larger than a yen coin—that hovered a few feet away from her? What was its purpose in finding its way to her bedroom? Was the thing that continued to slowly float ever closer to her would hurt her if it touched her? It was that last question that made Usagi leap from her bed and meander toward the door, her eyes fixated on the orb as it pursued her. Her hand felt for the handle and eventually pinpointed it. However, the orb dashed toward her before she could twist it and pull open the door.

The moment it crashed into her chest, dazzling white and pink light erupted across the room. She opened her mouth to scream in terror, but no sound came out. It confused her. How could she feel so calm when she should have felt nothing but fear? But she was not afraid. Not at all. She was serene in the face of what her eyes showed her when the light eventually dimmed.

No longer was Usagi in her bedroom, but in an environment vastly different and yet acutely familiar to the girl. Dusty silver extended outward in a rough and pock-marked expanse to meet inky blackness punctuated by tiny points of crystalline white at the distant horizon. It elicited a contented sigh. While she had seen a similar scene twice before, neither instance remotely compared to her current experience. However, when she pivoted on her heels she realized she had only witnessed the tip of the iceberg.

Spread across a deep valley sat a series of ruins, something akin to what one would find at an archeological dig, but far larger than any site she could recall. Still, there was no mystery to what laid before her. Despite the lack of any sort of edifice or significant features she knew exactly what it was. A pall of sadness fell over her.

 _So, this is what has become of the Silver Millennium_.

The tiny orb that hovered next to her emitted a pale blue light, one that swathed the remnants of the former kingdom. An extraordinary transformation soon ensued. From the destruction appeared the glittering white marble of the main palace and all of the surrounding buildings and courtyards. It was an absolutely magnificent vista, something Usagi never thought she would see beyond the special training room's simulator. Whether this was any more real than the known simulation somewhat bothered her, but at the same time she really did not care. It was the most she had ever seen of the Moon Kingdom, that which would have been her domain—or that of someone like her—if fate had taken a different path. She went to clamber down the side of the crater and dash toward the buildings, but she found her path blocked by an invisible barrier, one created by the sphere that had since turned bright red.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Serenity, but you cannot go down there quite yet."

The faint voice was feminine, one completely unfamiliar to Usagi. Her face contorted in total disbelief when she turned to glare at the orb.

"Oh, _really_? And why _not_?"

"It isn't your time yet, young princess. Please be patient, as you will know very soon when you may return."

"So you'll just torment me instead by showing me all of this?"

"Trust us. That is the last thing we want to do by displaying the full splendor of the Silver Millennium as it stood at its pinnacle to you, the sole monarch from that great kingdom. We prefer that you think of it as a brief history lesson, and maybe something more."

Usagi huffed loudly, forcibly crossing her arms across her chest. Then, absolute nothingness prevailed for a few seconds as the girl remained utterly frozen. Glancing downward, her widened eyes confirmed what her fingers initially guessed. No longer did she wear her pajamas but the smooth white satin of her royal gown. Whatever anger she held swiftly dissipated into confusion and suspicion.

"W-who are you? How do you know who I am?"

"We can't tell you. Not yet, at least." Usagi vaguely recognized this second voice but distortion prevented her from fully placing it. "But rest assured that you will find out in due time, as we have no intentions of keeping our identities a secret from you. As for your second question, all I can say is that you will be quite surprised at how much we know about you."

 _What in the world is going on?_ Usagi closed her eyes and attempted to ascertain what actually was occurring around her. _I feel like I know the voice. Is this Setsuna's doing? If so, I'll need to have a serious talk with her about interrupting my sleep, no matter how noble her intentions might be._

"As amazingly powerful as Sailor Pluto is, we did not require her assistance in performing this task."

A cold shiver shot through Usagi's body, though it was her apprehensive stare that made that fear more evident.

"Wait… you can read my thoughts?"

"I'm sorry, but we cannot distinguish between that which you say verbally and the words that remain within the confines of your mind. In that regard, we recognize how confused we're making you and we do apologize for our furtive behavior and secrecy." A beat. "Saying that, however much you think we may deserve them, we beseech you to not say—or, I guess, think—such rude statements about us."

She could feel the heat, but if only Usagi could see how vividly red her cheeks had turned. "S-sorry," she whispered.

"It's quite fine, dear Serenity. You didn't know we could perceive so much, and we failed to warn you. Besides, in all honesty, any one of us would have been equally irritated to be disrupted from a peaceful slumber."

"You have no idea how so not-peaceful it was up to an hour ago."

"Oh goodness, that's horrible!" The orb shifted to a pale turquoise color upon the exclamation, and then changed to dark blue. "We hope you're not experiencing too much pain and that you're able to figure out how to resolve that. We're sorry that we're incapable of assisting you right now."

"I-I'm fine." A short if not slightly awkward silence punctuated her denial.

"Anyway, I think it would be best for you to return to your current home as we now are satisfied that you exist."

Arms akimbo, head tilted slightly askew, and a narrow-eyed glare marked a very exasperated blonde. "Wait, _what_? You mean you dragged me out of bed just to find out whether I _exist_? Couldn't you have saved both of us all the trouble and just, oh, I don't know… _asked_ me? I would have told you yes and then I would've been right back to sleep."

"We're afraid it's not that easy." A sound similar to a disappointed sigh came from the orb. "If there's any consolation for you, the next time we meet you will have all of your questions answered, and then some. And, hopefully, you will not have such a terrible nightmare right before we summon you. Until then, goodbye, sweet Serenity. We wish you the best of luck in overcoming your ordeal."

Before Usagi could formulate any kind of response, the orb once gain exploded with dazzling white light, forcing her to shut her eyes. When she opened them again, complete darkness met her except for a faint red glow from the corner of a terribly small space. Strangely, she had to tilt her head toward her stomach to so much as glance at that glow. It was then when she realized she was lying down upon a soft mattress, and that the fabric rubbing against her skin felt far scratchier. She reached a hand outward to feel for the mattress's edge, then swung an exploratory foot over the side. Cold wood met her bare foot.

 _Hmm. Ah, so it's just like before._

As she slipped back into bed, she noticed that the clock showed six o'clock. She couldn't help the grin that played with her lips.

 _At least they were nice enough to give me some more time. Maybe now I can sleep without being interrupted._

—|1|2| **3** |—

Minako smiled even as she slurped at her smoothie, nearly leading to an incredibly awkward and embarrassing situation for the blonde. Nonetheless, the mere thought of what might have happened brought fits of giggles to Makoto, who had the good sense to stop drinking beforehand.

"Wow! This is so good!"

At least, that's what Makoto thought her friend had said, though the words were horribly muffled. A few seconds later, Minako finally brought the straw away from her mouth, leaving an empty glass behind.

"I'm so glad you suggested this."

"So am I, but I'm surprised you even really know how it tastes given the fact you sucked it down like a vacuum." She lifted her own glass, which was halfway filled, and smirked.

"Oooh, you'd better not tempt me. I'd reach over there and grab that from you in a second." It wasn't so much an idle threat as she appeared poised to leap across the table in an instant.

"Or, I could just buy you another one and save you the pain of hurting yourself."

"Please?" Her eyes went wide upon hearing the idea.

Makoto shook her head and sighed. "Oh, why not?" Her offhand reply was met with a not-so-muted squeal of delight, though that unbridled joy nearly would have come crashing to a halt had she not caught herself in time. "You know, you really are as bad as…"

"Hmm?"

"Um… never mind." She looked down at her glass for a few contemplative moments before turning her gaze back to Minako. "You know, we should probably get together with Rei-chan sometime soon. I really miss her."

Minako's sharp gasp came dangerously close to being loud enough to echo throughout the entire fruit parlor. "Oh my goodness, you're _right_! It's horrible how long it's been since I've last seen her. I hope she doesn't think we no longer want to be friends with her."

"Um… Minako-chan?" For a brief moment, absolute puzzlement replaced the sadness that had threatened to swallow Makoto whole. She cocked her head slightly to one side and lifted an eyebrow. "Didn't you last see her just three days ago?"

"Huh?" Her eyes darted away, idly searching the ceiling for some hidden answer before returning to the brunette upon coming up empty. "Ah, it doesn't matter." She shrugged and then smiled. "Anyway, why don't we go visit her today? It's the weekend after all, and she shouldn't be too busy."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to see us—um… well… she'd be happy to see you." Melancholy returned to her with full force, and Makoto's eyes dimmed as she turned her gaze downward yet again. "I don't know how nicely she'll greet me."

In contrast, Minako stared squarely at Makoto in utter confusion. "Huh? Why wouldn't she want to see you? After all, I forgave you, so I can't see why she wouldn't want to do the same."

"I guess…"

"No, I _know_ so."

She leaped from the bench and ran to Makoto's side of the table, looping her arm under one of the brunette's and hoisting the larger girl to her feet. It was an impressive feat by any standard. Maybe a bit silly as well, but being so deep in the moment she paid it no mind. Everything gave way to her rampant enthusiasm.

"So, we should go see her as soon as we possible."

"But, what about your smoothie?"

"That can wait. This is far more important."

The trip from Crown to the Hikawa Shrine took fewer than ten minutes, with Minako all but dragging along a very anxious Makoto. The latter girl didn't know how Rei felt about her ever since their battle, and she was in no particular hurry to find out. However, if ignorance was bliss, nothing she could do anymore could prevent extreme disappointment.

The steps of the shrine soon came into sight. As Makoto ascended them she could see Rei busily sweeping. However, that activity did not last long, and it stopped the moment she reached the top.

"Hi, Minako-chan." If Rei were at all surprised to see the blonde, it paled in comparison to the absolute shock of seeing the person who accompanied her. "M-Makoto?"

"Hi, Rei-chan." Minako smiled brightly and offered a friendly smile, but it went all but unseen by the girl whose attention was fixated on the brunette.

"Rei, I—"

That was all Makoto could say before she heard the broom clatter loudly against stone. Stunned silence dominated the girl but for a moment as she struggled to comprehend which emotion to feel: sadness, or anger. After all, she never dealt well with rejection. Seeing Rei's turn her back to her with nary a word uttered smacked of that terrible act. What would come next? A snide, hateful comment from Rei revealing how deeply she despised the brunette? Or would Rei's words be more direct and incisive, ending once and for all any hope for friendship before ultimate abandonment? Both, maybe?

Neither, as it turned out. Though she struggled to tell at first due to Rei's pained whisper.

"Makoto, could you please join me in my room? There's something important I have to say, but I don't want to say it out here. You too, Minako."

The two girls looked to one another and simultaneously shrugged the moment Rei began walking. They said nothing, instead opting to join the girl in a slow, quiet procession to her bedroom. Once there, Rei directed the girls inside and secured the door behind her. She wanted to ensure that their conversation would remain private as, despite her confession, it was senshi business. And the first order of senshi business directly involved the soldier of lightning. Turning a sullen gaze to Makoto, Rei opened her mouth. However, she was not the first to speak.

"Rei, I'm sorry for…" A solemn shake of Rei's head, along with her raised hand, made Makoto fall silent.

"No, Makoto. You have no need to apologize, not to me at least." Rei's initially calm voice wouldn't last for long. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I'm the one who was being foolish and thus couldn't see through my hatred of Usagi. I was the one who turned that senseless hatred toward you. Because of that… because of _me_ , we fell apart." She paused for a few seconds to contain what little poise she had remaining and to wipe away the tears that had started to form in her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she continued in a whisper. "I'm so, so sorry. I… Could you ever forgive me for hating you and for trying to hurt you?"

Misery won out, and Rei succumbed to her tears. Despite her blurred vision, she could sense Makoto's cautious approach. More by reflex than conscious effort, she flinched when the girl was within arm's reach. Thus, her surprise when she felt herself wrapped in a gentle and soothing embrace. It was a hug into which she willingly let her body collapse.

"I forgive you, Rei-chan," Makoto said. "I know everything has been confusing for all of us over the past month and, as angry as I got at you, I don't hate you for any of it."

"But still, I shouldn't have been so stupid to think that way," Rei said between her sobs.

"In that case, I was being stupid as well." Makoto lightly rubbed Rei's back in an attempt to calm the girl. It was something she would do for the next minute before the tears finally ceased and the senshi of fire found the strength to stand on her own and lightly push away from the hug.

"Sorry for that, Mako-chan."

Makoto shook her head and smiled warmly. "Don't be. That's what friends are for after all."

Rei nodded and smiled in kind to Makoto before walking over to her bed and sitting down alongside Minako. Makoto took a seat in the rolling chair next to the desk. With the most important thing resolved, they could address other issues.

"So, um… what actually happened that day?" The expression adorning Minako's face screamed apprehension. "Mako-chan said something about Kunzite coming here and attacking the shrine, but I don't remember any of it." She heard Rei's distressed sigh and quickly raised her hands in a defensive gesture. "Sorry if I'm making you remember something painful, Rei-chan. It's just… we've never talked about it before. And then, seeing you with Mako-chan here, I became curious."

"It's alright, Minako-chan." A single nod from her easily calmed the blonde, though she needed yet another sigh before she felt enough composure to talk about that day. "Kunzite did come here, along with this other woman who I'm sure works with the Dark Kingdom. They came here to take Usagi's transformation brooch from us so they could gain access to the Silver Crystal. Of course, the crystal was never within the brooch, but none of us knew it at the time. Anyway, they were much stronger than us. Our attacks had no effect on them whatsoever. Then that woman hit you with this attack that looked just like your Love-Me Chain but was far stronger. You were immediately knocked unconscious, and, honestly, I was afraid you wouldn't live much longer after that. The last thing they did was teleport us to the Dark Kingdom."

Minako closed her eyes as she leaned back onto Rei's bed. "I see…" she whispered. "I mean, I still can't remember any of it, but it sorta makes sense, I guess. It certainly explains all that damage I saw when I visited you that one time."

Meanwhile, Makoto gazed at Rei with curiosity. "I'm sure your grandfather had to wonder what went on in there."

"No doubt he did."

"Hmm? What did you tell him?" Minako asked.

Rei paused for several moments and took a deep breath before answering as she knew the revelation would shock her fellow senshi. "The truth."

Indeed, the pair of wide-eyed stares with mouths hung agape once the two girls fully comprehended her meaning proved her right.

"Y-you mean…" Makoto began.

"Yes, I told them I was Sailor Mars," Rei finished. "What else could I say that could reasonably describe the enormity of the damage that occurred there? And besides, I don't see much of a point in keeping our identities secret when the Dark Kingdom already knows who we are."

"That makes sense… wait, _them_?" Minako asked, her eyes bulging even greater with astonishment.

"I told Yuuichirou-san as well. He was there at the time, and more importantly he deserves to know as much as anyone."

"I assume that means you confessed to him, right?" Minako's rampant enthusiasm and the seeming randomness of her question caused Makoto to tilt her head slightly in confusion.

"Isn't that what I just said? I did confe…"

Naturally, Rei's temper had gotten the better of her, but once she realized the true meaning of Minako's question she stopped talking. Her face almost immediately became bright red as she swiveled away from the girls.

"You love him, Rei-chan. I _know_ you do. So, why not just go out there and tell him already?"

"I do want to tell him, but for some reason I just don't feel right about doing it now." There was a hint of disappointment in her soft voice. "I feel… I guess I just need to resolve some other issues before I do that."

Makoto placed a comforting hand on Rei's shoulder. "That's fair."

Minako was about to press further but a fleeting yet piercing glare from the brunette discouraged her from doing exactly that. There would be other, more appropriate times to inquire into the love lives of her friends.

"In any case, I think Minako-chan should tell her parents about her identity as Sailor Venus," Rei said more earnestly. "That way they can at least know what's going on. Also, if the worst ever came to pass, they would know why."

"Yeah…" Minako reclined across the bed once again, breathing a sad sigh as she stared vacantly at the ceiling. "I guess… I know what you're saying, but it's awfully hard for me to do that with my mother being as irritating to me as she always is. She'll probably use that info as an excuse to remind me of how irresponsible I am and how I lack any motivation to do anything worthwhile with my life. And you know the worst part is? She's right. The way I've handled the past few months, and especially the last two weeks leading up to the battle, basically showed that I lack the skill and responsibility to lead you guys."

Had she noticed it, the intensity behind Makoto's stare would have been enough to frighten the blonde stiff. However, there was no ignoring the forceful voice that followed.

"No, that's not right. We've all made mistakes along the way. Terrible mistakes, even. How badly I've treated Usagi-chan over those past several weeks is probably the worst mistake I'll ever make. But, I don't know of anyone who hasn't made a mistake at least once in their lives."

"That's not exactly helping, Mako-chan," Rei whispered.

"Um… _anyway_ … the point is: it's not if you make mistakes or not that determines your worth as a leader. It's how you respond to the mistakes you've made. And I'm positive that you're a good enough leader to overcome anything, including this."

A beat and sharp gasp later, Minako clambered around the bed to point her doe-eyed gaze at Makoto. "Y-you really believe that?"

"Absolutely." Makoto's vigorous nod and generous smile buttressed her words.

"I also believe it," Rei added in a more serious tone. "It may be difficult, but if I can trust anyone to triumph over such an obstacle, it's you."

The blush spreading across her cheeks was inevitable, and Minako did nothing to hide it. Still, while she appreciated the faith those two had in her leadership abilities, she lacked the confidence of the one person who mattered most. That knowledge tempered her elation.

"Thanks, guys." Minako fell remarkably solemn when she then turned toward Rei. "I'll do whatever I can to make everything right again for the two of us. I promise."

Rei forced a smile that survived for only a few moments before collapsing into a dejected frown.

"I'm not sure that I would make such a promise, Minako-chan."

"Why not?" Minako pushed herself fully upright to more easily direct her probing gaze at Rei. "I know it's probably harder for you than it is for me, but I'm more than willing to help you restore your friendship with Usagi-chan. And I'm sure Mako-chan's just as willing, especially since she already has Usagi-chan's forgiveness."

"It's not that I don't want either of you to help me. I'm just not certain it would make any difference. She absolutely hates me, and I don't think anything short of a miracle will change that."

"Oh, you don't honestly believe that, do you?" Makoto asked in astonishment. "There's _no way_ Usagi-chan can hate you. Sure, she's angry and hurt right now, but she'll come around. And we'll do everything we can to make sure she does just that."

Rei sighed as she pondered her friends' comments. She believed their sincerity, but that hardly could erase her nightmare from her mind. Such a sickening dream had to come from somewhere, but what it meant remained a mystery to her. Could it have been a premonition? For someone with the power to foretell future events as visions, that thought absolutely frightened her. Still, she forced a smile upon her lips and attempted to hide any worry.

"You're right. Eventually she'll accept me once again."

"Damn straight she will!" Makoto punched the air with enthusiasm. "It _is_ Usagi-chan we're talking about after all. You have nothing to worry about." Minako emphatically nodded in agreement.

Rei looked away from her friends who, despite being well-meaning, only increased her melancholy. In doing so her eyes caught a glimpse of her alarm clock, whose hands almost pointed at five o'clock. Fortunately, she had already completed the bulk of her homework for the weekend that Saturday morning. She still had math homework to complete, but it was fairly simple work that required only an hour under normal circumstances. She might have needed twice as long with her present mindset. In either case, she wanted to gently ease her fellow senshi away before she began to feel even more miserable.

"Hmm… it seems to be quite late," she said in the most nonchalant voice she could produce.

Minako's eyes widened when she noticed the clock, and she remembered that she did not want to spend any more money on food. "I almost forgot that I needed to get home soon so that I can actually eat dinner." Her rapid-fire cadence revealed panic. "I'm so sorry I have to rush out of here so soon. We'll definitely see each other again, I know it. You should come back to eating lunch with us. We've missed you dearly."

Rei's sole response was a shallow nod, but it was enough to satisfy Minako as she waved once again before running out the door. The shrine maiden then turned to Makoto, who was also making her departure, albeit at a slower pace. Unlike the blonde, she did not say quite as much in parting, but her words probably were more meaningful.

"I'm happy to have you back, Rei-chan."

"Me too."

The smile that graced Rei's lips might have been tiny, but unlike the previous ones it was sincere.


	11. Third One Down

**11 | Third One Down**

Usagi loudly heaved a massive sigh as she fell onto the mattress and stared at the ceiling. Sure, her classes were difficult and she had a full day of them, but that wasn't the issue. Nor was it depression. No, the emotion she felt was far worse. She glared at the white surface as distress, disdain, and raw anger flowed through her mind and soul. Those negative feelings were prompted by the conversation initiated by her trusted advisor and, more so, by the suggestion that black feline offered her.

"Why should I?" Her tone carried more than a hint of petulance. "Why should I even bother to meet with either of them anytime soon?"

"Well, for one, Usagi, they're your senshi, and you need them if you ever hope to defeat the Dark Kingdom," Luna replied.

"I know that."

"I understand you still feel hurt by what they did to you, but you can't carry a grudge like this."

"I'm not carrying a grudge. I'm just…" The memories of that night made her shudder. "I'm still a little uncomfortable being around the girls who willingly tried to kill me."

Luna shook her head in despair. "That was a grave mistake, one that they've readily admitted to and one for which they have apologized. You've forgiven Ami and Makoto, so why not do the same for Rei and Minako?"

"That was different," Usagi whispered. "Ami-chan apologized of her own free will and told me everything they were planning to do to me. Furthermore, she never attacked me the same way the other girls did. Even then, it was clear that Mako-chan didn't hate me as much as the other girls did, or at all, really. She could have hurt me very badly with her lightning. Easily. But, she merely went through the motions. Now that I know what she was thinking and how conflicted she was I understand why she attacked me and at the same time why she didn't want to actually hit me. Not only that, she also apologized and felt bad for what she did without anyone forcing her."

Soft drumming of fingers against the mattress filled the air for a few seconds, followed by a deep sigh. Or, rather, a surprised cough, one prompted by the sudden weight Usagi felt land on her stomach. That weight then padded up her frame to stop squarely in the middle of her chest. Curiosity prompted her to lift her head, where she met Luna's piercing gaze.

"What makes you think there's anything different with Minako and Rei?"

Silence reigned once again. Something about the far wall seemed more interesting to Usagi at the moment.

"You do remember they continued to believe I wasn't their princess up to the point I nearly killed myself, right?"

"Yes, but now they know you're their princess. They know it, and they sincerely regret what they did to you when they idiotically believed otherwise." Luna pressed forward, almost stuffing her nose directly into Usagi's face. "And, you still haven't answered my question."

A strange chuckle escaped Usagi's lips. "You really think Minako's sincere when she says she's sorry? The past few weeks has shown me she can be prideful to a fault. On top of that she's a good actress and is capable of manipulating the way others see her if you don't know her very well or if you're not careful."

"I… I can't believe what you're saying. Are you seriously suggesting that Minako would lie about something so vital, or that her sadness the last time she saw you—which, I'll have you know, was a few weeks ago by now—was fake?"

"I'm not quite saying that. I just don't know if she feels sad for betraying in me and attacking me or for making the wrong choice and appearing less of a leader as a result."

Luna leaped off her charge and onto the mattress. Ducking her head into the cushion and covering it with her paws was far easier that way. It was the best she could do to vent her intense frustration.

"Okay… There's an easy way to resolve this issue, and that's for me to contact Artemis. He'll know whether Minako's actually depressed or if she's making it all up as you suggest. I have a strong feeling that he'll agree with me."

Usagi pushed herself into a sitting position and gazed at the irate feline. "I don't know if you can trust him either."

" _What_? Now you're saying that Artemis is scheming along with Minako?"

"No, no, no! It's nothing like that." Swift waving of her hands before her chest punctuated her denial. "It's that we still don't know what Sazaratha did to him."

"Did Makoto mention any particular problems with him the last time you two talked?"

"As far as she knows he still acts normal, but how can we be sure?" She turned her eyes to the ceiling yet again and hummed softly. "If that demon did something to him, I just might be able to help him. I should go with you."

Luna nodded. "That would be nice. You have the unique ability to cure him, assuming there's anything to be cured. But, I think there's one thing you should do if you accompany me that I'm sure will help us even more."

"And that is…?" She slowly leaned toward her advisor with an eager stare.

"You have to speak with Minako. She'll likely be there with Artemis, and it would be pointless to have the two of you in the same location without you saying a word to her."

"Luna…"

"I'm not saying you have to forgive her or anything like that. Just talk to her. Maybe you can overcome your irrational hatred of her and the two of you can come to some agreement if you refuse to forgive her outright."

"But, I don't hate Minako."

"Well, what do you call it, then? Undue distrust? Whatever it is, it's not helping you, and it's certainly not helping her. I don't know if you know it or not, but your refusal to see either Minako or Rei is deeply hurting them."

Usagi opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it as she further reflected upon Luna's words. What on earth could she say, after all? Her eyes dimmed slightly as she gazed at the unadorned wall behind the feline.

"So, please, just promise me you'll speak with Minako."

She remained in thoughtful silence for several moments, but she eventually relented and gave her reply. "Okay. I'll do it."

"I'm glad." Luna leaped from the bed and began to walk toward the door but stopped midway to the threshold, turning a cautious glance to the girl. "What about Rei? Do you plan to speak with her at any time?"

"Unlike for Minako, I believe she's sincere." Usagi exhaled an apprehensive sigh. "The problem is that she hated me so deeply and for so long that it's hard for me to believe she could just turn on a dime and stop feeling utter contempt for me. I don't know why, but I feel really scared whenever I think about Rei and her emotions."

"I'm sure Rei doesn't hate you anymore, and I'm very sure she doesn't want to kill you, if that's what you're afraid of."

The blonde sighed yet again, its tenor the same as before despite her desires. "I absolutely hope you're right."

—|1| **2** |3|4|5|—

"This is the house? It's not really all that impressive to be honest."

Haruka ran a hand through her hair as she slowly drove past the two-story structure. As was typical when she took the wheel, her focus was on the road in front of her, so it was her companion in Michiru who had uttered that statement. Nevertheless, she had managed to sneak a peek at the house as she passed it, and that transient glance was enough for her to nod her head in agreement. It also prompted yet another question, one she found more pertinent to the situation.

"Can't we just blast it from here and be done with it?"

The woman sitting in the rear passenger seat behind Michiru shook her head. "You do remember what I said just a few days ago, right Haruka-chan?"

"But, Setsuna-san, it's right there. All I would need is one or two good strikes and it would be over."

Setsuna heaved a heavy sigh. "I'm afraid it's not that easy. Besides, I don't feel any of that mysterious negative energy right now, which means that the true threat would survive your attack."

"Dammit! Well, can't we wait for him to show up, and then take them down?"

"Come on, Haruka-chan. I know you're impatient, but this way is a lot more fun."

What Michiru had seen as amusing, judging by her giggling, instead made Setsuna somewhat anxious.

"Fun or not, we need to be able to figure out who this new Shitennou-like individual is, lest you end up killing the wrong person by accident. Heaven forbid some random bystander wanders to the house and you assume that he's the one."

"Okay, I get it. So, what do you want me to do?"

"Simple. Find someplace to park where we can keep an eye on the house."

"Heh. That's easier said than done, especially with these narrow streets. I'll probably have better luck dropping you guys off somewhere and parking in a garage."

"Don't be so negative, Haruka-chan." Michiru pointed off to the side with one hand while tightly grasping the door handle with the other. "Besides, there's an empty spot right there."

"Right wh—oh, I see it."

It was a vacant space in a small lot, both shrinking ever smaller in Haruka's left wing mirror. As such, she needed to act immediately, lest that valuable piece of real estate disappear. A light tap of the throttle pitched the car forward with ease, marking the prelude to a series of movements she would execute with perfect coordination. She intended to follow up with a slight twist of the steering wheel in one direction before rapidly swiveling it the other way. As the car slid rearward and sideways, she would then flatten the throttle pedal, stopping the slide and driving the car forward. She would complete the maneuver in mere seconds if all went to plan.

Of course, reality had other ideas.

As soon as she started to accelerate she saw the nose of an approaching police car as it rounded the bend in front of her. Rather than pull of an impressive yet patently illegal work of driving magic right in front of law enforcement, she jabbed the brake pedal. The car slowed well below the legal speed limit just in time to not draw the suspicion of the passing officer. Once it left her vision, she slowly reversed the car down the road and into the lot where she found the empty space awaiting her. She ensured the transmission was shifted into neutral and the parking brake was engaged before she sighed and slumped forward across the steering wheel.

"That was a close one."

Michiru grinned. "I'd say. You avoided the massive embarrassment of driving head-long into a police car."

"I would imagine that the legal ramifications would be far worse," Setsuna said.

"Maybe, but that could be chalked up as a simple accident. On the other hand, once the news spread around the paddock, she would never be able to live it down."

"Anyway, we're here," Haruka interjected. She did little to hide her displeasure with the topic previously being discussed. "I hope we don't have to wait for very long."

If one thing went right for the blonde that early evening, it was that fate granted her wish. A few minutes after parking, the trio saw a black Honda Civic drive past. Though distance and awkward angles made spotting the car difficult, it clearly had stopped in front of the house. Setsuna exited the car and slowly walked across the street in order to get a better view. In doing so she was able to witness Grayson and another individual, a woman with long black hair as far as she could tell, enter the Honda. She hurried back to Haruka's car and hopped inside, though she was courteous enough to not slam the door when pulling it shut.

"I think it might be a good idea to follow that black car you just saw," she said.

An eager grin pulled at Haruka's lips as she released the parking brake and pulled the lever behind the steering wheel to shift the car into first gear. "You don't have to ask me twice."

She pulled straight out, the Lexus IS F shuddering slightly as it hopped over the low curbs but otherwise incurring no real damage. It took her less than a minute to catch up to the Civic, staying behind by a few car lengths so as to not draw their suspicion. In the several minutes that the trio followed their quarry, it soon dawned on them where they were headed.

"It looks like we're in Minato," Michiru said. "Why on earth would they be heading this way?"

Setsuna let her gaze wander between a few of the shops she saw through the passenger-side window as they drove past. "I imagine it has something to do with the senshi who still live here, though why they would be so conspicuous about it is beyond me."

"I wouldn't call it that when those girls hardly know what to look for," Haruka said.

Michiru slowly nodded in understanding. "Well, they surely can't be up to anything good over here. We probably should notify them and let them know what's going on."

"I disagree, at least for right now," Setsuna said. "If they were foolish enough to attack one of the senshi, then I feel sorry for them. Even though the girls are weaker than us, I strongly believe they can hold their own in a fight. Look at how well Makoto-san did when she accompanied us to the Dark Kingdom's lair."

"That's when we launched a surprise attack against them, and they were completely unprepared. Even without magical powers, if those people were to do the same against the girls, they could still do serious damage."

"In that case, it's a good thing that we're here monitoring their activities. An ambush would be difficult to pull off if we notice them preparing one. However, I strongly believe we should leave those girls out of this for now. They have enough of their own problems to overcome."

"It looks like they're stopping," Haruka said, drawing to her both women's attention as she maneuvered the car to the far-left lane so that they could turn off of the street. "One of them left the car and entered that building over there."

Setsuna shifted forward in her seat to gain a better view through the windshield. "Which one was it?"

Haruka shrugged. "I dunno. Your guess is as good as mine. He didn't look like Grayson though. The man was far too old."

"That's no good." She leaned back toward her seat and reached for the door handle. "You two wait here. I want to have a closer look."

"Maybe I should go instead," Michiru said, gesturing with one hand while reaching for her own door handle with the other. "After all, it wouldn't be a good thing if Grayson spots you, or any of us for that matter."

A grin played with Setsuna's lips. "Who knows? Maybe that would help us more than you think, especially given how smitten he is with me. Besides, I'm certain by now he already knows that I work in this district, so my presence here should not be a complete surprise."

"Don't bother. The old guy's getting back in the car." A loud growl from the engine, the consequence of Haruka tapping the throttle pedal, signaled her readiness to resume the pursuit.

"Haruka-chan, should we, for good measure, also light flares so that we could more readily announce our presence?" Michiru smirked as she faced her lover. "I'm sure Setsuna-san's Garnet Rod is up for the job."

The blonde merely rolled her eyes in response. "Whatever. We're moving."

Indeed they were, albeit at a crawl. As they approached the building in front of which their targets had stopped, they could more clearly see just how perplexing their mission had become. Michiru's question neatly summarized their confusion.

"What were they looking for in an arcade?"

—|1|2| **3** |4|5|—

 _Mou… What the heck…? Who's calling me, and why now of all times?_

Resonant beeps emanating from her purse shattered Minako's intense concentration and drew the blonde away from the homework she attempted to comprehend. It annoyed her. After so long, she had finally shoved that last battle and the mysterious fate of that young girl to the back of her mind, only to be horribly distracted mere minutes later. She had enough difficulty learning the intricacies of Japanese history when she fully focused on it, as her abysmal grade on the last quiz had proved. Improving that grade was vital, if not to avoid her mother's ire yet again. Besides, not receiving an allowance and being completely broke was a huge pain.

With a huff, she grabbed her bag and reached for her cell phone with the intent to inform whoever had called that she was far too busy to go out. That irritation swiftly transformed into confusion when she saw that it was not the phone making all that noise.

 _Duh. Of course it's the communicator. I should know that by now._

That thought caused her to shake her head even as she placed the phone aside and pulled the communicator from her purse. Her mood soon improved and a smile tugged at her lips upon reading the message it displayed.

 _I'm so happy I get to see Ami-chan again. It's strange she wants us to meet at the candy store near the park, but I guess I can't blame her. Besides, who doesn't love candy?_

Feeling upbeat, she stood from her chair and strolled toward her bedroom door. Her hand had barely touched the handle when it slowly opened, startling the girl and causing her to shuffle backward a few paces. She immediately froze when she saw her mother standing in the doorway.

"I just wanted to make sure you were actually studying and not goofing off as you are apt to do," Akiko said, her tone somewhat callous to Minako's ears. "I don't want you making a poor grade like that on an exam and failing your class as a result."

Minako's breath hitched in her throat for a second before she managed to compose herself. "I am studying."

The reply elicited a disbelieving stare from Akiko. "So why aren't you at your desk?"

"I was just going to the toilet." She averted her eyes as she spoke, a curious action her mother immediately perceived.

"Well, when you get done I hope you don't mind me going over the homework with you."

"Y-you don't have to do that."

"Why not? Are you saying that I shouldn't take an active interest in your academic wellbeing, especially when it's clear you don't share that same interest?"

Minako shot her mother a piercing glare, doing her best to squelch any tears. "I work as hard as I can at this." Almost unconsciously she clenched the hands at her sides into tight fists. "It's not my fault I'm not the smartest person alive and that I don't immediately understand everything. But it doesn't mean I'm not _trying_."

"Well, you could've fooled me, what with that poor performance of yours," Akiko said, unfazed by her daughter's frosty gaze. "I'm going to make sure you do well in school whether you want me to or not. And that means I'm going to make sure you're doing your homework and that you're doing it properly. If it seems to you I'm treating you like a baby in doing this, then all you have to do is prove to me you have the responsibility to take care of it yourself."

Those harsh words incensed the senshi. She tried desperately to steady her trembling body and suppress her urge to say something incredibly nasty to the woman. The repercussions of such a response would have been severe, much worse than the lack of money and, as a result, lack of freedom she had at the moment. Instead she took several deep breaths that she slowly exhaled, and that appeared to do the trick of calming her rage. Then, without saying a word, she walked to her desk, grabbed the notebook containing her homework, and extended it toward her mother. Her eyes remained pointed at the ground when she felt the weight of the notebook disappear from her hand.

"You see, this is all I'm asking you to do," Akiko said, her tone more encouraging, as she flipped through the pages. "This isn't perfect, but it's clear you're putting in far more effort than you demonstrated on that quiz. All you have to do is keep this up."

Minako only gave a nod in response to what she considered rare praise from her mother. She then shut her eyes and pondered her next move. It was imperative that she leave the house in order to meet with Ami, but she did not know if Akiko would let her leave so easily. On the other hand, the woman seemed to possess a far better temperament than she exhibited even a few seconds ago. Besides, sneaking out of the house carried far too great a risk at that juncture. So, despite its improbability, she bet on her mother's generosity.

"Do you think it's okay if I could go meet with Ami-chan?" She refused to let her dim eyes meet her mother's. "She called me just a few minutes ago, and I really want to talk with her."

"I don't see why not. You still have some work to do, but you've shown a willingness to do it. Also, it's Mizuno-san, so I don't have to worry about you getting into trouble."

The affirmative reply stunned the blonde, but she recovered quickly enough to respond. "Thanks. I'll be back in an hour or two at the longest."

Akiko nodded and, after returning to the girl her notebook, calmly left the room. It gave her an opportunity to grab Artemis, which was another strange request from Ami, and place the feline inside her shoulder bag before running down the stairs and out the door.

—|1|2|3| **4** |5|—

Haruka was never fond of following another person, especially when driving. For the twenty minutes their targets led them aimlessly about, she excelled at doing exactly that. However, two specific locations informed the women that what seemed random at first in reality was anything but. Hikawa Shrine seemed odd by itself, but recognition fully hit them when they saw the Honda Civic park in front of the house formerly inhabited by the Mizuno family.

That was several minutes ago. Now, the Civic had stopped in front of an unfamiliar two-story house. Stopping her Lexus several car-lengths behind, Haruka and her companions saw the same older man exit the Civic, stalk about the sides of the house for about a minute, then return.

"It appears they're visiting the locations frequented by the guardian senshi, but they're only spending a minute or two there before leaving," Setsuna said.

Michiru lowered her head and sighed wearily. "Don't they already have youmas tracking those girls? This is completely pointless."

"I wholeheartedly agree. If I could read their minds I would be able to tell you the meaning behind all of this, but I lack that ability."

As they began to move, Haruka spotted a yellowish object streak out of the house and into the street with barely any hesitation. Closer inspection revealed the object to be a person. Fortunately for that poor, oblivious pedestrian, her Lexus's large brakes and a rather slow forty-kilometer-per-hour speed ensured she stopped well before she hit the girl.

 _Well before_ being a relative term, in this case.

Barely half of a meter of air existed between the car's front bumper and the girl's legs, a fact which left her frozen in place. Not even the heady growl of the car's engine prompted her to move. If she had any reaction at all to the car reversing and swerving around her, tires ever close to nipping her toes, nobody was the wiser. Maybe not even her.

"Dammit. That was annoying as hell."

"I'm just happy you did not run that poor girl over," Michiru quipped, pulling her lips into a playful smirk. "That would have been very bad indeed for our future efforts."

Haruka first raised an eyebrow, then shrugged, but did not turn to acknowledge her lover's grin. "Hmm… maybe so."

Thirty minutes of sneaky follow-the-leader brought the trio into the heart of Katsushika. It was imminently familiar territory for Setsuna, given that her home was located there. The other two were less knowledgeable about the locale, but that was of little importance to their immediate goal. Nevertheless, realizing when they approached certain waypoints provided a boost to their mission. That was especially true when they discovered they were in the vicinity of the largest park in the ward. Given the large number of civilians typically present, the idea that the Dark Kingdom would have interest with the park indubitably unnerved them.

"I have a bad feeling about what these guys are planning." Michiru slowly turned to face Setsuna, and the latter woman could clearly sense the gravity in her expression. "There has to be several hundred people here right now."

"It's as prime a target for gathering energy from people as any. I can't blame them for at least investigating this place as a target."

Haruka shut the engine off after locating a parking spot in the nearby lot and opened the driver-side door. "It still doesn't make sense though, as there're more people at a sports event or a race compared to this."

"They have to have some semblance of method behind their madness," Setsuna said as she exited the car. "Otherwise, it's just madness, and as much as we despise them for their attempts to harm our princess, we can't really suggest they act without initially thinking through the consequences. So, it's just a matter of figuring out their endgame."

Michiru smoothed the wrinkles out of her skirt as she stood from her seat and shut the door. "I'm sure we're able to do at least that much. It's just a matter of doing so before time runs out for them… and for all of us."

They cautiously entered the park, making sure to keep a fair distance between them and the quartet they surreptitiously followed. However, despite their best-laid plans and desires, they were not able to maintain that level of secrecy for long. Almost on a whim, Grayson stopped and turned around. In doing so, his eyes immediately lit up with recognition. After a brief word with his compatriots, presumably telling them not to wait for him, he started to approach the three anxious women.

"I think he spotted me," Setsuna whispered.

Michiru lightly ran a hand through her hair and offered a tentative smile. "Well, we just have to stay calm."

"I think I could take him on if needed," Haruka said, her eyes narrowing as she gauged her opponent.

Though it was delivered with deadpan seriousness, her expression of confidence more amused Setsuna and allowed her to feel at ease. "Maybe so, but something tells me that won't be necessary." She smiled, which helped to create an upbeat mood when Grayson finally arrived.

"I'm pleased to see you again, Meioh-sensei," he said while bowing.

Setsuna returned the gesture. "Ah, Grayson-san. I see you're taking advantage of a calm evening to stroll through the park."

A playful grin came to his lips. "I can't think of a better time to do so. Or better weather for that matter." He turned his attention to the other two women and offered a more proper smile. "I assume you two ladies are friends of the doctor. My name is Grayson."

Michiru was the first to respond to his quasi-introduction, and she did so with barely any hint of emotion on her face. "I've heard. She's told us quite a bit about you." A sly glance in Haruka's direction was enough to tell the blonde to prepare to move. "I really hate to be rude, but I don't think it's my place to intrude on your conversation with our dear friend. So, we'll let you guys enjoy some privacy while we take a nice, long walk all the way over there."

Before Setsuna could complain or Grayson could make any meaningful reply, the pair scampered off in the opposite direction at a brisk pace. She exhaled an almost inaudible sigh and shrugged, while he chuckled lightly at their antics before turning a more remorseful expression to her.

"I hope I didn't scare them off."

"Hardly." She shook her head and smiled. "It's more likely that they're trying to set us up."

"Oh?" He began walking toward the gargantuan open space, and she wasted no time in accompanying him. "Is it working?"

"Quite miserably. I did say when we first met that I was uninterested in dating anyone, and that fact has yet to change."

"Even after our third meeting thus far?"

She muffled a laugh in the palm of her hand. "I also said that we would see each other again, and that seems to have borne itself out one way or another."

A large group of people, mostly of college age, stood out among the relative calm that surrounded them as they alternated rampant cheering and frustrated groans. She could not quite make out why they acted that way, but it certainly captured her attention. While that crowd was on the other side of the park from where she and Grayson stood, each step the pair took gradually closed the distance. During that time, they engaged in friendly small talk and a fair amount of banter, up to the point where she could clearly see the other three Dark Kingdom associates standing near the edge of the tree line. They were joined by a fourth person, a sharply dressed blond-haired man who for the moment was engaged in an intense conversation with the black-haired woman she recognized from before.

"Ah, there they are. I hope you don't mind if I introduce you to a few friends of mine." He pointed in their direction, even as Setsuna was already looking that way.

"As long as you don't give them the impression we're a couple, I have no qualms with it."

A mirthful chuckle and nod. "Fine. Though, if we keep this up—"

Her glare could have melted steel. For his sake, he recognized as much and immediately shut his mouth. Nevertheless, his recklessness wasn't necessarily the cause of her suddenly foul mood. More blame rested on the intense aura of negative energy she felt when she got within ten meters of the tree line. It was a feat of both physical and mental strength that she remained upright, but she knew that any outward indication of weakness would spell trouble. She also knew that she could not continue walking in the direction of that aura lest she reveal her own. But, with Grayson standing right next to her, how could she possibly not fall into a dangerous trap or look incredibly suspicious while attempting to avoid it?

"Meioh-sensei?" He looked at the stationary woman with concern. "Is there something wrong?"

Fortunately, the answer to her quandary popped into her mind the moment he asked his question. She hurriedly reached into her pocket and removed her senshi communicator, which to anyone else appeared to be a normal cell phone. Her fixated stare at the screen, punctuated by a few instances where she tapped on it, seemed normal in that light. After a few seconds, she returned the communicator to her pocket and heaved a massive sigh of disappointment before looking at him with a rueful expression.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to do that another time. There's an emergency at the hospital and they're calling me back into work. I really have to go now."

He shared her feelings of regret even as he smiled. "Don't worry about it. I figured it was bound to happen at some point."

"Thanks."

She nodded once before pivoting on her heels and dashing in the opposite direction toward the parking lot. Only when she reached Haruka's car did she stop running, but with that came yet another surprise.

"Oi? Was the date that terrible?"

"I figured she would have found a way to escape from him at some point, though I didn't imagine it would be this soon."

Her initial gasp of shock was swiftly replaced first by a confused look and then an annoyed shake of her head as she pulled open the rear door and sat behind Michiru. "I discovered something extremely important, but I think we should leave here first."

The engine roared to life with a melodious growl as Haruka stabbed at the throttle. "Back to your place, I imagine."

"Absolutely." The deep breath she slowly exhaled soothed her nervousness, as did their growing distance from the park. "It seems there definitely is another Shitennou member after all. I didn't stay around for much longer as he would have detected my energy. However, I did manage to take a picture of him before escaping. I figured Kunzite would know something about him."

"That's brilliant," Michiru said before suddenly frowning. "But, how on earth did you manage to get away from Grayson without looking suspicious?"

"I _am_ a doctor after all." She did nothing to stifle her devious grin, nor did she want to. "Sometimes we get called in at the most inconvenient times. As far as he knows, this just happened to be one of them." The smile faded and she fell into apprehensive contemplation. "I just hope being _called in_ doesn't become a frequent occurrence, as I don't know if I'll always be able to leave in time."

—|1|2|3|4| **5** |—

"Where could she possibly be?"

The woman who asked that question searched the length of the brightly lit boulevard with narrowed eyes for any sign of her late cohort. Fortunately, it was not long before she spotted the golden hair and distinctive red bow of the very person she had been waiting to meet for fifteen minutes.

"Gah! Sorry for being late." All the running had left behind an exhausted Minako, and she hunched over her knees to catch her breath. "My mother was being a pain and kept me from leaving home on time, and I almost got run over as soon as I left the house."

"Whatever."

"Ami-chan…?" Minako flinched, then turned up at the woman a wide-eyed stare.

"Don't be mistaken." First the abrupt masculine voice, then recognition of his form as the man approached from the street, left Minako even more bemused. "Now, could you join us? There's a lot that needs to be done but very little time to do it."

"S-sure."

"Good. Now, let's get out of here. Follow me."

Upon his command, the trio began to walk along the sidewalk. As the store and nearby Juuban Park faded into the distance, Minako played the events over again in her mind. Still, nothing made sense to her, and every step she took she felt even stranger about the whole situation.

"Um… what's going on? Where are we— _ow_!"

The sudden sharp pain in Minako's ribcage coincided with the woman's curt voice, and even she had no doubt that the two were related.

" _Shush_! We'll tell you when we get there."

About a minute later the trio walked down a side street and stopped in a deserted alley. That much had already left Minako thoroughly bemused. So, what on earth was she supposed to do when the man extended his hand toward her? Was he pointing at her, or offering her to shake it? Conversely, the woman seemed to know exactly what to do when she grabbed hold of his other arm, and seemed annoyed that she couldn't figure it out.

"W-what?"

"Grab his hand already."

"Ah."

She wasted no time complying, if only because of the woman's aggressiveness. Gold light flooded the walls of the alley in an instant. She blinked, wondering what had just happened, before noticing that her surroundings had drastically changed. The alley was gone, replaced by what appeared to be the inside of an abandoned warehouse. The stark difference in environment only further befuddled the girl.

"W-where are we?"

"Somewhere none of us live," the woman said. "Anyway, where's Artemis?"

Minako reached into her bag and pulled out the white feline, cradling him in her arms but disturbing his brief slumber in the process.

"Um… Minako…? What's going on?"

"Hmm… I don't feel anything strange about him." The comment came not from the woman or her taller companion but from the cat she carried in her own bag.

"Luna?" Minako anxiously stared at the black cat as it leaped from the bag and sat at the woman's side.

"Don't worry, Minako."

"But, I'm confused. What in the world are Ami-chan and Kunzite-san doing and why have they dragged me all the way out to God-knows-where?"

The woman shook her downward-turned head and exhaled a weary sigh. "I thought it would be pretty obvious that I'm _not_ Ami-chan."

Blinding pink light filled the warehouse. When it dimmed, Minako could see that, indeed, the woman had told the truth. Ami's hair was a neat shade of blue, not blond. Also, while it felt like forever to her since she last met Ami, she knew that girl never wore long pigtails.

"Usagi-chan…?"

If Minako had expected a friendly welcome from her princess, she ended up both sorely mistaken and extremely disappointed. Instead, the frosty glare she received told her everything she needed to know about the status of the relationship between the two girls. A miserable frown tugged at her lips as she let her gaze fall to her feet. Usagi's mood was also far from bright, but unlike for her fellow blonde it was not sadness that gripped her.

"Let's go over there so that Luna can speak with Artemis."

"A-about what?"

"Something private." Despite its brevity, her furious scowl achieved her intended effect, leaving behind a shaken Minako. "But, until then, we really should talk. And, trust me, there's a lot we need to discuss. So, could you give Artemis to Kunzite and walk with me?"

Minako carefully placed the cat within his waiting arms before joining Usagi in a slow walk to the other side of the warehouse. As she did so the grief and despair that had built within her soul for the entire time she was separated from the girl whose friendship she sorely missed bubbled to the surface. Her wobbly voice and teary eyes seemingly competed against one another to express the full depth of her sadness.

"I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. I'm so sorry. What I did to you was completely idiotic."

"Stop. I know that. You've said it before, so you don't need to say it again." It wasn't anger but eerie calm from Usagi, and that frightened Minako. "What I want to hear from you instead is, as supposed leader of the senshi, why you commanded the girls to attack me and why you were so enthusiastic in doing so."

Minako remained silent for several seconds as her tears slowly dried. It wasn't that she no longer was depressed, but she was far too startled to even cry properly at that point. Furthermore, her mind was fixated on solving the almost impossible problem of how to tell her princess the reasoning behind her foolish decision.

"At the time, those ancient memories I received convinced me that you couldn't have been the princess, only a senshi." Her voice barely surpassed a whisper as she spoke. "I know you are my princess now, but then… then I had severe doubts. I, like all of us, recalled that the Moon princess was the only one who was not a senshi. Given that you were a senshi, I reasoned that it was impossible for you to also be that princess."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"U-um…" Minako gulped at the harsh response, then hanged her head as she delved deeper into her troubled mindset. "When I made that order, I had lost any confidence that you were on our side. I had come to believe that you were fighting against us. There were all those little things that came before, such as your clumsiness that impeded our battles. However, I really began to doubt your allegiance to us and what we thought was our princess after Rei's injury."

She took a deep breath held it for a second before gradually exhaling it with the hope of suppressing the nervous tremors that racked her body.

"But it was really the battle with Zoisite that sealed the deal in my mind. I thought you had sold us out and told the Dark Kingdom when and where we were meeting. Then, after Zoisite attacked Ami-chan, I thought you deliberately showed up late to ensure she had died. After that, you had become the enemy, and I began to hate you like I hate any youma or Shitennou general from the Dark Kingdom. It was clear to my mind that you had done something awful to the 'true' princess and had taken her figure and the Silver Crystal. I ordered that attack to get the crystal back and to destroy that so-called threat."

Usagi nodded slowly but continued to direct her fierce glare at her counterpart. "Why did you continue to believe that I was not the princess even after Mamoru-san pointed out otherwise?"

"I guess I picked up that same stubbornness and senseless pride that my mother always shows." Sadness dominated her voice, though it was the hint of nonchalance that really made her subsequent nervous chuckle sound even more awkward. She then fell silent for a few seconds and shook her head in disgust. "I'm sorry. That's nothing but a weak excuse that really doesn't answer your question."

"So, if that's not it, then what is?"

Minako's shoulders slumped as she sighed, yet during that time she had somehow escaped her sullenness to reply in a calmer, more stoic tone. "The reason I continued to believe you weren't my princess was that, as leader of the senshi, I couldn't let myself think I was wrong or that I had made a bad decision. I felt that it would have been a sign of weakness or incompetence that would make the other girls lose their faith in me. However, when I was in the throne room, even before any of the action had begun, I realized I had made a terrible mistake."

"Heh. You can say that again." Usagi's chuckle was dry and full of cynicism. "You very much were incompetent to continue to think that for so long."

"I'm sorry." Minako took another deep breath and found the immense courage to stare directly into her princess's icy gaze. "I'm sorry. I truly am sorry. Could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me for my stupidity?"

Several seconds passed, but only silence and a stony glare met her plea. She lifted her arms, feeling an urgent need to wrap her arms around her body. But, the chill that made her shudder didn't originate from her unheated surroundings. Only one solution made sense, and cocooning herself wasn't it. Lowering her arms, she found her voice once again.

"I… I understand how shameful and… repulsive it was for me to attack the one person who was my first true friend. When I realized that my horrific actions had pretty much ruined our relationship I felt sick to my stomach. The only thing I could really think about was what I could do to repair the damage I had done, and the knowledge that I was powerless to do anything without being able to see you or contact you depressed me. Because of that, I will do anything— _anything_ at _all_ —to prove to you that you can trust me not only as a senshi but as a friend. A true friend."

Still no reply from Usagi, though her cold visage had softened. She excused herself and walked over to Luna and Artemis, who by then had finished their conversation, leaving the other blonde to ponder her fate. Several minutes later she returned, and it was clear her attitude had changed considerably since speaking with the two advisors. Her more relaxed posture and gentler features made it evident she was far more accepting of Minako.

"I guess I have an apology of my own to make." She took a deep breath and turned her head downward before continuing in a soft voice. "I'm sorry for making you wait so long before I finally realized you were being honest. And I'm sorry for making you feel so terrible even up to tonight."

"Usagi-chan…" Minako's eyes widened in shock. "You don't have to apologize to me for anything. I can see why you wouldn't trust me. I attacked you, after all."

Usagi shook her head and smiled, though that latter gesture was remarkably hesitant. "Anyway, I want you to know that I forgive you, Minako-chan. I absolutely forgive you, and I'm willing to accept you as a friend again, though I can imagine it will take some time to fully repair our friendship."

"Thank you so much, Usagi-chan. Thank you so, so much!"

The tears that started to stream down Minako's cheeks seemingly contradicted her otherwise complete elation, topped by her resplendent smile. She moved tenderly to embrace the person whose love and friendship she valued more than any other, but that was not yet meant to be.

"However, I can't let your actions go without some form of punishment," Usagi said, stepping backward to evade the hug. "From this point on you will no longer be the leader of the guardian senshi as far as I'm concerned. I'll make sure the other girls know this as well."

"I don't care about that. You've forgiven me, and I have hope in becoming friends with you once again. That's far more important to me than some silly thing like whether or not I'm the leader. I'll gladly follow whoever you choose to replace me."

Upon hearing that, all hesitation fled from Usagi and she happily returned the hug that the senshi of love had initiated. A few seconds later they separated and began the slow journey to meet with Kunzite, Luna, and Artemis. Along the way, Minako risked destroying any semblance of contentment by broaching a subject even more delicate than that of her own ordeal.

"So, um… Usagi-chan… Do you have any plans of speaking with Rei-chan soon?"

Usagi sighed. "Not really. I still don't feel like I'm prepared to approach her."

"But, she's probably the one person who possibly feels more miserable than me ever since that time. It's killing her to think that she might never be friends with you again."

"I know that. It's not that I hate her or that I enjoy putting her through that misery. I just… I don't know. It's very complicated."

"You know, Rei-chan's birthday is coming up soon, and we're planning to hold a party for her." Minako suddenly looked askance. "Err… well, okay, _I'm_ planning one, but I haven't had an opportunity to talk about it with the others yet. That's not important." Her gaze found its way back to Usagi, and she ensured it was one that was as forceful and persuasive as she could muster. "Anyway, it might actually be a good time for you to meet with her and talk with her. I know it will be very hard to see her, judging from the difficulty you had in being around me, but I strongly believe it will be better for both of you in the end."

"I don't know…"

" _Please_ , Usagi-chan. All I'm saying is talk with her. Even if you don't end up immediately forgiving her, it'll do wonders for her psyche and maybe pull her from her constant depression. She does her best to hide it and tries to act normal, but I know she's hurting badly because of what she did and because she can't see you or contact you in any meaningful way."

Usagi suddenly stopped walking and stared into space for several moments, catching the other blonde off guard. "I'll think about it."

That was a good enough reply for Minako. She and her princess soon reached the other three members of the group and prepared to exit the warehouse. As they linked hands, one last question came to her mind.

"Usagi-chan, I don't mean to impose, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but… where do you live now?"

Usagi turned a playful smirk to her fellow blonde, one that mightily confused the girl. "You know, instead of telling you, how about I just show you. Then you can meet another person who'll probably be very glad to see you again."

—| **Author's Note** |—

Hi all! Thanks for reading! If you've followed the story this far, or even if not, please let me know what you think of it. Whatever opinions or comments you might have—good or bad—I welcome them. Don't worry, I can take it.


	12. Revelations

**12 | Revelations**

Damn that buzzing.

It was the loudest sound in Usagi's bedroom, beyond even her petulant groaning as the sound roused her from her slumber. If only she could figure out what that racket was, or where it came from. Her grogginess, exacerbated by sealed eyelids and a very heavy head, hampered efforts to answer those questions. Barring that, she wanted the buzzing to just end, sooner rather than later.

Fortunately, it was sooner.

"Finally," she muttered.

She had spoken far too soon. The annoying rumbling resumed seconds later, wresting her from the last vestiges of sleep. Pale light filled otherwise inky blackness once she lifted her head and opened her eyes. That's when realization struck her. Her blanket crumpled against the wall in a heap, tossed aside with abandon so she could scramble out of bed. Though, to her chagrin, the buzzing stopped the instant she reached the table and her cell phone.

 _Bah, I missed it._ A frown contorted her face as she lifted the phone from the table and flipped it open. _Huh._ _Why's Naru-chan calling me so early in the morning?_

The response arrived sooner than she expected as the phone began to vibrate for a third time that morning. She wasted no time in pushing the call answer button and lifting the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Usagi-chan!" Compared to the blonde's low and monotonous tone, Naru sounded exceedingly cheerful. "I'm so glad you're finally awake!"

"Barely, Naru-chan. It's six o'clock in the morning, and on a Saturday at that." She yawned immediately after saying that.

"Sorry 'bout that. I knew it was a bit early for you, but I just couldn't wait to tell you the news." She sucked in a deep breath. "I'll finally be able to see you in person again!"

Any remaining lethargy disappeared from Usagi in an instant. "You're coming back home?"

"Yeah! Our flight leaves tomorrow morning at eight. As much as I liked America, I can't wait to get back to Japan. You have no idea how much I've missed you. Talking on the phone just doesn't cut it."

Usagi wished her friend could see the brilliant smile that came to her lips at that moment. "I missed you too, more than you might imagine. We'll have one heck of a welcome back party for you, I guarantee it!"

"That would be amazing. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"You know me. I wouldn't let you miss it even if you wanted to. Not after a month of you being halfway around the world."

Naru laughed. "I don't doubt that one bit. However, all I really want—well, besides seeing you again—is some decent food. The stuff they serve here sucks."

"I agree. I've had more experience with hospital food than I ever wanted."

The loud gasp on the other end of the line startled Usagi. "Huh? Something happened to you that sent you to the hospital? How? You never told me anything about that?"

"Well…" So melancholic was her sigh. "There was a really bad car accident a few weeks ago."

"My God! Are you alright? Were you hurt any?"

"I'm fine, but only because I wasn't with them at the time. My mom and brother weren't hurt all that much, and they're walking around fine. On the other hand, my dad…"

The sudden silence worried Naru, and a part of her feared the worst. "Usagi-chan? He's o-okay, right? Please tell me he's not, y-you know…"

"Sorry, Naru-chan. I didn't mean to scare you like that." Usagi swallowed hard before continuing in a whisper. "He's still alive, but he was badly hurt and they put him in intensive care. I haven't been able to see him yet, but I've heard he's slowly getting better. In fact, today I'll finally get to see him."

"I'm very happy to hear that." Once again there was silence, this time lasting for a few seconds. "But, why didn't you tell me anything about the accident earlier?"

Usagi knew exactly why she did not tell Naru about the accident or about a whole host of other secrets that she harbored. However, that excuse died the moment her family ended up in the hospital. She knew she had to make some painful revelations to Naru, and soon, but not over the telephone. Unfortunately, normal circumstances dictated that several hours would pass before the two girls could meet in person. In the interim, she hoped to allay both Naru's fears and her own.

"I didn't want you worrying about me when you had enough stuff to go through on your own."

"Come on, Usagi-chan. You know I wouldn't have thought badly of you if you told me. Heck, if anything, I want to be there for you as much as you've been here for me, whether or not I'm in the hospital."

"True, but—"

"But, nothing. I can't have you suffering on your own." Sadness and disappointment tinged Naru's sigh. "I know that's just the way you are, but I'm your friend. Friends help each other when in need."

Usagi heaved her own sigh, one that was far more miserable. "You're right, Naru-chan. I'm sorry for not telling you about that."

"No need to apologize, Usagi-chan. It's not like you did anything bad." She waited for a response, but received only a nearly inaudible grunt. "Anyway, now that I know what you're going through, I'm going to have to get you a nice present to help cheer you up. And, I think I know just what to get you."

"Hmm? What is it?" Usagi was barely more upbeat, but that was enough for Naru.

"Oooh, it's a secret! You know it's no fun if I tell you what it is ahead of time."

Usagi exhaled a small breath, one that gave her just enough time to carefully consider her response. "I'll have something to share with you as well when I see you again."

"I can't wait!" Loud jostling and another person's murmurings interrupted the conversation. "Sorry that we can't talk for longer, but I have to go now. My mom and I are doing some last-minute shopping before we come back home. Can you believe that the next time we talk, we won't need to do it over the phone?"

"That's something I've been wishing for longer than you can imagine."

"Me too. I really wish I could teleport back to you, but instead we have to take a slow plane—again." She giggled. "Anyway, I'll see you soon, Usagi-chan!"

"Bye, Naru-chan."

The phone clattered against the floor almost as soon as Usagi had closed it shut. It was amazing she had gotten even that far. So many conflicting thoughts and emotions swirled through her mind due to that brief conversation, and it almost made her dizzy. On one hand, she felt even worse about her deception than before, and the idea that she lied to her best friend nearly brought her to tears. However, a strange sense of resolve would not allow her to succumb to her misery. It instead drove her to trudge back to her bed, toss the pillow out of the way, and grab the communicator hidden underneath. After hitting a few buttons on the device and waiting for about a minute, she finally reached the person she needed to contact.

"Hello?" that individual muttered, obviously still halfway asleep.

A faint sigh quickly passed through her lips before she gave her reply. "Hi, Kunzite-san. How quickly can you get here?"

—|1| **2** |—

There were not many differences between San Francisco and the several other cities Naru had visited during her travels with her mother Mayumi. Varied culture only counted for so much when each place still contained drab office buildings, posh hotels, shops, and all the other oh-so similar sundries of urban life. Not that she particularly hated it, living in metropolitan Tokyo, but it wasn't _home_. As such, Naru was very anxious to leave San Francisco. Nearly dying there, leaving her hospital-bound for weeks, only increased her motivation to return.

Mere hours remained before her departure as she walked with her mother back to their hotel. The doctors deemed fully healed two weeks ago, and only a barely noticeable limp favoring her right leg betrayed any sign of her previous condition. She carried a small bag with her, one that contained the present she had planned to give her best friend upon their reunion.

Physics and logic dictated that such a meeting should happen several hours into the future, after her Japan homecoming. This she knew very well, even despite her irritation that cruel fate had prevented its occurrence by over a month. Still, she would have hated yet another delay. When she felt something abruptly tug at her arm, she feared that destiny was working to ensure her eternal frustration. Such was her surprise when she swiveled on her heels and laid wide eyes on the one individual she had wanted to see again for far too long.

"U-Usagi-chan?"

Usagi nodded and, rather than immediately respond with words, threw her arms around the stunned girl and pulled her into a tight hug. "It's me, Naru-chan."

"I-I don't believe it…" Her arms remained at her sides, frozen much like the rest of her body. "There's no way that it's you. I… I just…"

"But, it is, Naru-chan. You have to believe me."

For several seconds, all Naru did—and could do—was level a blank stare at Usagi. When she finally found the ability to move, she wasted no time in returning the embrace with far more fervor than she received. Her vision blurred as she dampened Usagi's shoulder with her tears, but she didn't care. Not when her best friend was there, in the flesh, right in front of her.

"Usagi-chan! It really is you!" Her muffled voice soon began to crack. "I've missed you so much. It sucks knowing that I couldn't actually see you. Being stuck in that hospital room for so long was the worst thing ever, especially since it meant I couldn't hang out with you."

Usagi began to slowly rub Naru's back as she spoke, doing her best to provide comfort even as her own eyes began to water. "You don't have to worry about that any longer."

Eventually, the two girls slowly and very reluctantly pulled away from one another. It was then that Mayumi realized the curiousness that shrouded the girls' chance meeting. Her gaze, one full of perplexity and suspicion, fell squarely on Usagi.

"But… why are you here, _now_? I-I mean, _how_ did you actually _get_ here? It takes forever to fly here, but I know Naru just talked with you two hours ago and I swear you were still in Japan at that time."

"I guess I just couldn't wait another day for you two to come back home."

Mayumi found no amusement in the reply. Given Usagi's horribly strained chuckle, she wasn't alone in feeling that way. The blonde shook herself and fell somber, a swift change that startled her friend.

"Actually, I'll answer your questions, but not out here. There're too many people around. You're going back to your hotel, right?"

"Yes, we're going back there, but I don't get why you can't say anything about it now."

Unlike her daughter, who continued to gawk at Usagi, Mayumi's frustration started to get the better of her. She swiftly received a reply to her concern, but neither the response, nor the person who gave it, remotely resembled what she had anticipated.

"Believe me, when you hear what she has to say, then you'll quickly understand her preference for privacy."

What unnerved Mayumi wasn't so much that Usagi hadn't spoken those words than the person who did. The abrupt voice broke Naru's reverie as well. Both swiveled around to see a tall man approach them from behind. Mayumi gently tugged on Naru's arm while taking a step forward, deftly placing herself between the strange individual and her daughter.

"Uh, who are you?"

"Apparently, your transportation for this evening."

Usagi spotted Mayumi's flinch, an action echoed by Naru. "Don't worry, Osaka-san. Kunzite-san isn't going to do anything to hurt you two. Believe me, I wouldn't let him even if he tried." She exhaled a tired sigh before placing her hands on her hips and leveling an impatient stare at the woman. "Anyway, can we go to the hotel now? All this running about for over an hour just to find you two left me somewhat exhausted. Also, I still have so much I desperately want—" her visage softened considerably as she turned to Naru— "no, _need_ to tell you."

The quartet reached the hotel room after a few minutes of walking. Naru sat at the edge of one of the two beds, soon joined by Usagi. Mayumi preferred to stand as she looked at the blonde with nervous anticipation. In fact, both she and her daughter felt the same. Yet it was Kunzite, who lounged in a cushioned office chair near the back of the room, who spoke first.

"I still strongly believe doing all of this, in the manner you chose, is both excessive and wholly unnecessary."

Usagi didn't bother looking over her shoulder at the man, let alone saying anything to him, when she shook her head. She then shifted her attention to Naru. The depth of blatant despair the redhead detected in what should have been a warm gaze frightened her.

"Usagi-chan?"

"I'm sorry, Naru-chan." Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, which only further unnerved the other girl.

"Uh… sorry for what?"

"For not telling you this sooner, when you deserved to know." Usagi closed her eyes, which once again were on the verge of spilling tears, and took a deep breath. "I can't blame you if you decide to hate me."

Naru shook her head and deepened the curious stare she leveled at the blonde. "I don't get it. What did you do that would cause me to hate you?"

Usagi sighed loudly and pushed away from the bed. She appeared to meander about until she stopped directly in front of the room's cabinet-mounted television. A sense of resolve overwhelmed her just in time for her to pull the ever-present brooch from the front of her blouse, lift it high over her head, and say with unusual calmness those crucial magic words. Naru and her mother had to rush to cover their eyes from the blinding light, but when it receded they saw a completely different person standing before them.

"Surprised?" A half-shrug and tepid smile was all Usagi could muster before slumping down to her knees and staring at the carpet.

Stunned silence, though not for long. Mayumi remained frozen in shock, teetering on the verge of fainting. Meanwhile, Naru trudged away from the bed until she stood just in front of the miserable senshi. Part of her wanted to kneel down, to support Usagi as best as she could. However, she did not, and at the moment she really couldn't. Her words soon revealed why.

"I… _what_? I thought we were _friends_. Why didn't you tell me something so important like the fact you were Sailor Moon?"

"I couldn't risk it. Not with you."

Her gaze hardened considerably as she stood over the girl with arms akimbo. "Why _not_? You felt you couldn't trust me? Was _that_ it?"

"No! Of _course_ not!" Usagi's long pigtails flew wildly about as she shook her head and lifted her eyes to meet Naru's impatient stare. "I trust you more than just about anyone else."

"What was it then?"

"I didn't tell anyone else about my secret, not even my own family. The last thing I wanted was for the Dark Kingdom to find out who I was, and then take retribution against me by attacking the people I love. Of course, they found out anyway. That's why my family's in the hospital right now."

The words felt like a blow to the stomach. Any hints of resentment Naru might have felt disappeared the moment she heard them. Her mouth fell open, but no sound came out other than a muted gasp. By all appearances, she hardly realized that she had collapsed to her knees. At least, not until a tender grasp of her shoulder roused her, one that soon became a full-fledged embrace. Only then was the girl shaken enough from her stupor to hear Usagi's gentle whisper.

"That's why I didn't tell you. The people I fight had hurt you twice already. The last thing I wanted was for them to attack you yet again."

Naru tried to swallow a sob but failed miserably, and soon tears began to flow down her cheeks unabated. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Naru-chan."

"I do. I mean… I guess I had become jealous, since for a while it seemed we were growing apart." Her soft voice cracked frequently as she spoke at a very deliberate pace. "We rarely spent much time together anymore, and except for recently we didn't talk often either. I figured you were avoiding me or something and I never knew why. Instead you spent all your time with—"

Usagi pulled Naru closer to her even as she interrupted the other girl. "They're senshi as well. That's why I hung out with them so much. Yes, they're also my friends—for the most part—but so are you. You're my best friend, and you always will be." She hung her head and exhaled a dismal sigh. "Though, I haven't really been as good of a friend to you. Friends don't ignore one another, even if by accident."

"I know now that you never meant to do that." Wallowing in her own sorrow did not stop her from lifting her arms and returning the hug. "It's not your fault, and I guess I can't blame you for doing that."

"But, I _did_ ignore you, and I probably would have completely forgotten about you after some time."

"Please don't say that, Usagi-chan. You know you wouldn't have done such a thing."

"The only thing that rescued our friendship was the fact that my relationship with the other girls—the other senshi—worsened to the point that they didn't want me around anymore. That, and the fact Mamoru-san broke up with me—"

The revelation piqued Naru's interest, causing her to flinch. "You never told me about that either. When did that happen?"

"A little over a month ago now." She shook her head before gently resting her chin on her companion's shoulder. "I'm long since over it, and over him. But, at the time it seemed like everyone was abandoning me. You were the only one left who I could call a friend. With how poorly I had treated you I'm fortunate that you didn't do the same thing."

"I never would have left you alone like that regardless. Never. Besides, I couldn't have lived with myself if I'd done that, no matter how jealous I was."

It was an agonizing sight for Mayumi to watch in silence as her daughter and friend released months' worth of pent-up frustration and sadness. Hearing their weeping, she wanted nothing more than to comfort Naru—and Usagi as well. They both deserved as much. After nearly a minute of her own anguish, she could no longer suppress that urge. Thus, it struck her as odd that the two girls found some semblance of composure practically the moment she started walking. Indeed, their frowning and sobbing somehow had morphed into grinning and giggling.

"Um… well, I'm glad I finally got that off my chest," Usagi said as she slowly pulled away from Naru and rose to her feet.

"Me too." She joined her friend in standing, which made it easier for her to point a playful grimace at her. "Though, next time, promise me you won't hesitate to tell me something so important."

"Deal!"

A welcomed joviality arose from their shared melancholy, only for Naru to dampen it with her sudden contemplation. Her previous fake frown turned more genuine.

"Hmm. Now that I know you're Sailor Moon and all, I guess I understand why you didn't want me to go out with Nephrite anymore." She readily ignored Mayumi's curious gaze. "Not that I'm as depressed about that now as I used to be. But, I had gotten so angry at you all those times you were trying to separate us."

Kunzite took the reference to his fellow Shitennou general as his cue to end his passive observation, which he did in by speaking in a slow, meditative drawl.

"I didn't know much about the relationship he had with you until after his untimely demise at Zoisite's hand. Now that I know how good it feels without Metalia's influence, I wish he had the opportunity to be fully healed."

Naru shot at him a look of utter surprise. "You knew Nephrite?"

"We were both Shitennou. If you think about it, it wasn't so long ago that it was my duty to kill Usagi and gather energy in an unfortunate attempt to revive that foul being." He turned toward the nearby window, averting his gaze from both girls. "Although I wasn't the one directly responsible, I did order the attack that almost killed your best friend's family."

Mayumi leveled a far more probing stare at Kunzite than the one she had given her daughter upon her confession. "But, you're no longer like that, right?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't be here right now if that were the case." He lightly rapped his fist against the desk a few times before swiftly pushing himself out of the chair. "Anyway, enough of that. I think it's probably a good idea for us to leave here sooner rather than later. After all, there is another important engagement that we need to attend later today."

Naru's visage changed to one of bewilderment. "So, where are we going?"

"Home, of course," Usagi replied.

Mayumi was even more confused than her daughter. "What? But our flight doesn't leave until tomorrow. Not only that, there's a lot we have to pack before we even think about going anywhere."

"Well, there's not much we can do about the second part, and we can wait for that. However, I don't think you'll need to worry about missing any flights." The blonde grinned, and then winked. "Besides, it's not like we took one to get here."

—| **Author's Note** |—

Five months. Damn. Not exactly what I expected, and I apologize for that, but real life can't be helped. Anyway, it's a bit of a short chapter this time but it does answer some pretty important questions. I will post the next chapter next week to make up for the long gap. As always, opinions and comments are appreciated.


	13. A Strange Morning

**13 | A Strange Morning**

Makoto's gaze shifted from the kitchen pantry, to a nearby calendar, back to the pantry, and finally to the floor around her feet. By itself, the fact that there was not much food around to cook for her own benefit was a disappointment, but that alone did not cause her desperate sigh. She eventually meandered to the nearby living room and unceremoniously plopped onto the sofa, her feet dangling over one arm. It was not a problem that lounging about could solve, but she could not think of anything else to do at the moment. Thus, it was serendipity that came to her rescue in the form of her ringing cell phone, though it was not immediately obvious to her.

"Hi, Minako-chan." Her tone was languid at best. "What's up?"

"Nothing beyond the usual being stuck here at home." A sulky groan emanated from the phone's speaker. "I just can't wait for Rei-chan's birthday to come around so I can finally get out of here and do something besides studying all evening."

"It's not the worst thing in the world. Besides, you're getting better grades now than last term, for the most part."

"Heh. You should tell my mom that, Mako-chan. Apparently, she doesn't seem to agree. You remember how she bitched at me for an entire day about that last math exam, even though I ended up doing well enough to pass."

"I still think you should tell her about—" there was a full second of silence before she spoke once again— "um, what you have to go through."

"Err… oh, yeah, that… Maybe someday in the future, if I felt it would actually change anything between us."

"You're just being extremely pessimistic, Minako-chan, which isn't like you."

"Can you really blame me though, given what I've had to deal with for the past two weeks?"

"…Yes?"

Makoto's smirk grew larger and she even managed a giggle upon hearing the blonde at the other end of the line grumble. "Mako-chan…"

"Sorry, but it was way too good to pass up. Besides, I needed the laugh after being so stressed out about what to make for Rei-chan."

"I know! What about making her a birthday cake, preferably dark chocolate with strawberries maybe a touch of whipped cream on top?" Upon hearing nothing but muffled chuckling for several seconds, she added, with a perplexed tone, "What? I'm being serious, you know."

"If you're nice enough I'll consider making that for you later, but it still doesn't solve my problem."

"Fine. Don't think I won't hold you to that though. Anyway, now that I think about it, maybe you don't have to make anything at all for Rei-chan's birthday."

Those words prompted a thoroughly confused Makoto to shift into a more upright seated position. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I heard about this awesome restaurant that opened about two weeks ago that supposedly serves the most delicious desserts in all of Tokyo. The only problem—well, actually there are two problems. The first is that their food is really expensive. The cheapest item is about a thousand yen and it goes way up from there, which puts most of their menu out of my price range."

"That's not exactly expensive, you know. But, what was the other problem."

"The fact that it's in Adachi, which means a train ride that I can't really afford right now either."

"Really?" She heaved a disbelieving sigh. "I can understand you not having enough for the food, but I can't imagine the trip costing more than five hundred yen to go both ways."

"Um, yeah, but then I wouldn't have much money left to pay for anything over there, which would make the trip entirely pointless."

"I imagine that if we were to go there for Rei-chan's party instead of Crown that we'd pay for whatever she ordered. So, as long as you don't order anything crazy I could cover for you as well."

An earsplitting yelp of excitement preceded anything that sounded remotely intelligible from the blonde. "Oh my God! Really? You would do that for me? Thank you so much, Mako-chan!"

"O-of course." She winced as she brought the phone back to her ear. "Just try not to make me go deaf before then."

"Sorry. But, you have no idea how happy this makes me."

"As much as I'd love to prepare a special treat for her, this just might be better overall." She momentarily fell silent, her eyes finding the ceiling while her mind fell deep in thought. "Though, I want to see how good their desserts are first-hand before having all of us go up there and risk expensive disappointment."

"If you're going anytime soon, can I tag along with you?"

"How in the world are you going to accomplish that if you're stuck at home with studying?"

"Oh, I have my ways." In the amount of time it took for Makoto to roll her eyes and open her mouth to respond, she was preempted by the seemingly faraway sound of Minako's voice blaring over the speaker. "Knock it off, Artemis. I don't need you reminding me about how much trouble I can get in with my mom. Such opportunities only come once, and when they do, you have to strike the iron by the horns."

"I'm not sure that's quite how it goes, but I'll let it slide. Anyway, are you sure about coming along with me?"

"Of course. Besides, I'm not silly enough to try sneaking out of my bedroom or outright lying to her, but that doesn't mean I can't convince her to let me go."

"If, by some miracle, you can convince her to let you go, then let me know. I'll be at Crown until then."

Minako laughed with a haughtiness more expected from some of the enemies the pair had battled. "Don't give up on me. I'll be sure to join you in no time."

Raucous laughter spilled from Makoto's lips the moment she disconnected the call and lasted for several seconds until she found enough composure to push away from the sofa. She grabbed her purse and a light jacket and made her way toward the apartment door. Even then, she continued to chuckle softly.

"Knowing how her mother works, I really shouldn't wait up for her."

—|1| **2** |3|4|—

 _Um, did I just hear someone screaming?_

Makoto had barely walked a few meters from the lobby entrance of her apartment building before hearing a piercing shriek from a nearby alley. Or, at least she thought she heard something like that, but she was unsure. On the other hand, her ears had no trouble detecting the heavy roar of construction equipment that was in place repairing the street about a block in the opposite direction from which she walked. She turned that way and paused for a few more seconds but could only hear the low thrumming of engines and harsh impacts of steel against concrete. Shaking her head, she pivoted and continued to walk along the street, her destination being the bus stop at the next intersection.

She reached the stop about a minute later. Her posture was utterly casual as leaned against the inside wall of the hood and peered down the street. According to the schedule the bus was due to arrive in two minutes. That left her enough time to pull her cell phone out of her purse and sigh upon noticing the fact that she had missed Minako's call. She flipped the phone open and pressed one of the buttons before lifting the device to her ear.

"Ah, Minako-chan. I figure that your mom's not letting you come with me to the restaurant?"

"Unfortunately not." Her voice did nothing to disguise her blatant unhappiness. "It's like she doesn't even realize that it's the weekend and that I'm a young girl who needs to have a life."

"Cheer up. You're definitely going to be able to come with me in a few days anyway, so long as this place is actually worth all the trouble."

"Oh, I definitely hope so. You have no idea how heartbroken I'd be if she doesn't let me out then."

Makoto chuckled. "You already told me earlier that she gave you permission to go so now you're just being melodramatic."

"Hmph. I have every right to be melodramatic." Makoto heard a slightly muffled voice that was not Minako's followed by a furious one that most definitely was. "Oh, shut _up_ , Artemis!"

"Um, I'll take that as a good time to hang up now, before you actually do get into enough trouble that you won't be able to make the party." She was just about to say goodbye and hang up before her mind sparked an idea, one that she decided to share with her friend. "You know what, if their desserts are as good as you say they are, I'll buy one and bring it to lunch tomorrow so you can get a taste. That way, you don't have to be jealous about not being able to make the trip."

" _Please_? That would be _so_ amazing if you could do so!"

Makoto nodded, even though she knew Minako could not see her over the phone. "Yep! Anyway, I have to go now, as my bus is about to arrive."

"Bus? But, I thought you were headed to Crown. Ah, whatever. I'll see you tomorrow, and I hope you bring something super-delicious for me to eat!"

Giggling morphed into full-blown laughter by the time Makoto returned the cell phone to her purse, just in time for the bus to arrive at the stop. She hopped up the step, tapped her card against the scanner, and walked toward an open seat she spotted near the back. The moment she sat down she felt the bus lurch forward by about a meter before grinding to a halt.

 _That was strange._ A quick glance at the people around her found that they echoed that sentiment. _Maybe the bus is breaking down, but that never actually happens. They usually make sure the buses are working at all times, but I guess it can't really be helped._

Her conjecture was borne into reality only seconds later when she noticed the distinct lack of engine noise that would normally emanate from behind her head. There were a few groans as the driver attempted to restart the engine, but with little success. He then opened both doors before leaving his seat and turning toward the passengers.

"I sincerely apologize for the malfunctioning bus," he said, bending forward in a similarly remorseful bow. "I assure you that your fares will be refunded as soon as possible."

Makoto shrugged as she stood from her seat and joined the others in exiting the bus. _That's not really much of a problem for me, as I had time before I had to catch my train. I just hope other people were as fortunate._

She heard a loud shout and turned on her heels just in time to see a rather large man barreling toward her at a full sprint. That alone was concerning enough, but something about the situation seemed strange to her. His features, particularly his widened eyes, screamed of desperation to get away, but why, and from what? Then she noticed another person, a woman who appeared to be of college age, running behind him at almost the same pace. Anger dominated that woman's expression, and it did not take Makoto long to realize why when she spotted what the man held in his hand. In turn, a sense of determination filled the lightning senshi, and instead of swiveling out of his way, she lowered her shoulder and readied herself for the impending collision.

 _I'm not going to let some random thug trounce all over and steal stuff from other people._

Amazingly the impact was a lot softer than she had anticipated, quite possibly due to the evasive maneuver the man attempted at the last possible instant. She remained on her feet, which was more than he could say as he struggled to push away from the hard concrete. His inspiration came as the pounding of footsteps grew to a crescendo. He leaped from crouch he had managed to attain and took off running, ignoring both Makoto and the black shoulder bag that lied rumpled on the ground.

"Ah, he got away."

Startled, Makoto turned around to see that once-angry woman standing a few feet away, bent over her knees while breathing heavily. She slowly walked over and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Um… are you alright?"

Light-pink strands of hair, obviously dyed from blonde, shifted to one side of the woman's face as she turned her head upward. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for knocking that jerk over or else I never would've caught up to him."

"It was more of a reflex than anything." Makoto shrugged and averted her gaze. "Though, I'm really glad he wasn't able to run away with your stuff."

"Me too. I have no idea what I would have done had he gotten away." After a few more seconds of catching her breath, she walked to the bag and lifted it from the ground. She opened it and began to poke about inside. "There we go. It looks like— _dammit_!"

The exclamation caused Makoto to flinch. "What?"

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. It's just that the bastard managed to break my camera. But, it wasn't nearly as important as the other stuff in here." She pulled the device from the bag and removed the memory card, slipping it into the front pocket of her blouse. "As long as I don't lose this little guy, then all is well. Though, I'll still have to buy a new camera, unfortunately. That's not something I was planning to do anytime soon."

"Sorry about that." The ground swiftly became a more appealing target for her gaze than the woman's disappointed expression. "I was just trying to stop him."

"No worries. As I said, the memory card was more important, and had you not done anything he would've taken it from me." Any hint of despair disappeared from the brunette upon seeing the wide smile leveled at her. "Anyway, where are you headed? If it's close enough, maybe I can give you a ride as gesture of thanks, especially since that bus doesn't seem to be moving anytime soon."

Makoto nodded. "I appreciate it, but I'm actually headed pretty far north, and I don't want to be a huge burden on you."

"Nonsense. My car is just right over there." She lifted a hand and pointed it at a parking garage situated in the middle of the block. "I have to head in that direction as well, so I don't mind taking you."

"Are you going as far as Adachi?"

"Um…" The woman looked skyward for several moments, as though deep in thought. "Actually, I'm going to Saitama, so Adachi would be on the route, generally. And, I'm not in any big rush. Dropping you off at wherever you're going wouldn't hurt me in the least." Another grin tugged at her lips. Unlike before, it was one the brunette found outright inviting. "Who knows, maybe we could hang out for a while and we can get to know each other better. What do you say?"

 _What do I say to that?_ Makoto's hesitation was reasonable given how infrequently other people opened up to her so quickly. _She seems really nice, if not a little too forward. It creeps me out a bit, but maybe I'm just being paranoid. Besides, I can't just distrust and push away from everyone, even after everything that's happened to me before. If I did that, then I'd never have become friends with Usagi-chan in the first place._

"Hmm?"

"Uh, sure. T-that might be a good idea." A slow nod punctuated her words.

"Well then, let's go!"

The woman started to walk toward the garage, but stopped after only a few paces when she noticed that her companion had failed to make the trip. She turned around, only to see Makoto standing right where she had left the girl. Indeed, the teen had her attention fixed on an approaching bus, one that would have taken her to her destination. Frustration boiled within the woman as she doubled back, though she tried her best to tamp it down.

"What's with the holdup?"

"Oh, there's another bus. If I take it, I can reach the station on time."

"But, you just said you were riding with me." The woman noisily huffed and stood with arms akimbo. "Besides, I'm absolutely certain I could easily beat the bus and the train to Adachi by taking the expressway."

Her boastful claim captured the notice of another prospective passenger, one who had waited with Makoto following the mechanical demise of the previous bus. That older woman casually strolled toward the pair and bowed before speaking to them.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'd advise against trying to drive that way on the expressway. The police had to close it in both directions after someone speeding ended up causing a serious accident. Not only that, but the traffic is horrible on all of the connecting streets."

Makoto gave a small bow and smile of thanks toward the woman before turning to her newfound acquaintance and waving. "Well, I guess that means I'll have to ride the bus after all, though I really appreciate your offer."

She then stepped onto the bus, tapping her fare card against the reader as before, and marching to a pair of open seats near the middle of the vehicle. That alone was quite an amazing feat as more people were expected to ride given the earlier issues. However, the spectacle that played out at the front of the bus swiftly took precedence within Makoto's thoughts, to the girl's amusement. Standing next to the card reader was the very woman she had talked with only seconds before, drawing a crowd behind her as she rummaged through her bag. Moments later the woman evidently found the object she was looking for, allowing her to jog down the aisle and plop down in the last open seat.

Makoto chuckled as she turned to address the red-faced woman. "I thought you were intent on driving."

"Well, the unexpected traffic kinda screwed me over, so I thought, what the hell, you know?" Her grip of the shoulder bag's straps tightened as she forced a smile. "By the way, my name's Tanaka Aika."

"Kino Makoto." The brunette extended a hand, one that Aika eventually took but with a little hesitation. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Before Aika could say anything else, she felt some unknown object rub softly against her shoulder. Try as she might, there was nothing she could do to suppress the squeal that followed. It took all of her willpower and then some to not turn to her side and swat at whatever cruel being it was that had touched her.

"What's wrong?" Confusion warped Makoto's features as she gazed at the woman.

"Oh, uh…" Aika's complexion shifted to an even deeper crimson as she buried her face in her hands. "Sorry about that. I'm just not all that great with huge crowds."

"Don't worry. The ride's not that long, and I don't think the train should take much longer than fifteen minutes."

"I hope so."

"But, if that's the case, why not drive? Sure, the traffic's a mess, but you said you weren't in any rush, right?"

"Yeah, but then I won't have the opportunity to properly thank you for helping me earlier. In that light, I think the little bit of discomfort is worth it, don't you think?"

Makoto slowly nodded in understanding. _Yeah, a little bit forward might be an understatement, but I shouldn't brush her off just yet. After all, maybe she's just overly friendly, like Mariko-san is to Usagi-chan. Nothing to be too crept out about._ She felt her cheeks turn warm and could only imagine how fiercely she was blushing the moment she felt her new friend gently grab one of her hands. Presumably it was a reaction to yet another scare, but it did cause her to swallow hard before answering the question the woman asked of her.

"Um… sure, I guess."

—|1|2| **3** |4|—

 _I wonder if this place really is as special as everyone seems to be making it out to be, because I really don't want to deal with cooking today._ A sigh passed her lips as she felt the dampened strands of hair pass through her fingers. _As if I need yet another thing to go awry for me._

Despite her role as a guardian of time and a special knack for prognostication, Setsuna had no idea just how hectic her morning would have become. Certainly, a large factor in creating her woefully busy night was her inability to predict probabilities for events in which she was directly involved. Not that it always portended the worst outcome. Her princess would not have survived the battle against Beryl, nor would she or any of the other senshi have escaped that underground lair in one piece, had that been universally true. However, the last twenty-four hours had been especially unkind to her. The first blow was an unanticipated extension of her normal twelve-hour shift by half. She was already exhausted as she only had a few hours of sleep beforehand. Getting covered in muck, bile, and other fluids, all courtesy one unfortunate patient, was merely icing on the cake. Such were the risks in her profession, and she accepted them. It did not mean she always had to like them.

In any case, that was all behind her, or so she hoped. The prospect of eating a real dinner instead of that horrible food served in the cafeteria excited her to no end. That was one of many motivations that drove her and stopped her from collapsing in a heap and sleeping right there on the sidewalk. And so, she soldiered on. At least, she did so until happening upon a sight that, even to her, was startling and somewhat concerning.

 _What the… is that Makoto-san? And who on earth is that with her?_

It was quite a stroke of luck that amongst the crowd she had spotted a person she thought she recognized, although it could have been just the byproduct of her fatigue. She worked to traverse the distance as swiftly as she could, forcibly pushing her way between throngs of random passersby. Even then, it took her nearly a minute to travel the fifty meters to where she had last seen the mysterious brunette, only to be met with disappointment. She found a spot away from the crowd, bent to her knees, and exhaled a dismal sigh.

 _Maybe I really was just imagining that she was here._

Yet when she stood once again, she saw the very same person standing on the other side of the street. She could also see that person's companion, a pink-haired woman who had just finished removing her arm from around the waist of her target. Setsuna pushed away from the wall, wound her way through the bustling crowd, and stepped into the busy crosswalk. Only when she was in the middle of the street could she finally answer that frustrating question. A faint smile came to her lips once she bounded the curb and located a place to stand alongside the girl.

"It looks like you're a long way from home." Her grin widened when met with Makoto's wide-eyed gape and hasty bow.

"Ah, Meioh-sensei!"

"You don't need to be so formal with me, Makoto-san. In fact, I would be thrilled if you called me Setsuna instead."

"O-okay." After a nervous chuckle and muffled cough, the girl regained most of her composure. "But, what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I should be asking you that same question, as this certainly doesn't look anything like Juuban, or even Minato for that matter."

"Rei-chan's birthday is coming up in a few days, and Minako-chan recommended going to this restaurant instead of having me make the desserts. She said they're supposed to be really good. It just opened up recently." She shrugged. "It's a bit of a ways out, though, which is why I suggested making sure the trip is worth the hassle."

"That's understandable." A studious expression graced her features as she gazed more intently at Makoto. "I imagine you've already repaired your friendship with Usagi-san by now."

The girl slowly nodded. "Thankfully. She's also forgiven Minako-chan, though not without punishment. Rei-chan's the only one Usagi-chan hasn't seen yet."

"I'm certain that time will come soon enough, and this whole terrible episode will be relegated to history. Nothing good can ever come out of such discord."

"Honestly, I think Usagi-chan would be the happiest of all of us when that happens."

"Indeed." A few silent moments passed between the two before Setsuna turned a mischievous smirk to the girl. "Speaking of happy, I hope your, ahem, _friend_ is okay."

"Friend?" Certainly it took her a few seconds, but when she finally understood her face turned a wholly new shade of red. "Oh, you must mean Tanaka-san. I wouldn't really call her a friend as I just met her today."

"Really?"

"Um… Oh, no. No, no, _no_!" She fervently shook her head and waved her hands in front of her chest. "It's nothing like _that_! She's just really eager to thank me for helping her earlier today. That's all."

"Just be careful not to give her any false impressions, as the last thing you'd want is to upset her by leading her astray."

"Eh?"

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon, or you can just speak to Minako-san. She is supposedly an expert in matters of love, is she not?" Her lively giggling merely prompted a grimace from the brunette. "Anyway, I'm very glad to have run into you Makoto-san, but it has been a long day for me and I would love nothing more than dinner and sleep. Please give my best regards to Usagi-san and the others."

"Y-yes, I'll do that."

Setsuna gave a short bow, one that was graciously answered by Makoto's hesitant yet ultimately friendly wave, before merging into the crowd that headed away from the nearby train station. She had barely walked one block from where she had left the lightning senshi when she spotted the oh-so familiar features of a person she had no intention or desire to meet that morning.

 _Dammit. Of all people, why does Grayson have to be here?_

Fortunately she had spotted the man from behind, and since he lacked the ability to sense her energy signature, he was certain to remain ignorant of her presence unless he turned around. That act held a very low probability given that his attention seemed to be fixed on a conversation he held with the same black-haired woman she remembered from that strange car pursuit days ago. From the body language exhibited by the two, she could tell that the conversation was quite animated. Furthermore, she sensed that the relationship between the two was nothing more than businesslike. Not that she cared either way.

 _I wonder if I can get close enough to hear what they're talking about without being spotted by either of them. Especially Grayson, but I'm sure even that woman knows about me by now._

She gently pushed people out of her path as she worked to close the distance to Grayson. She managed to get within five meters of the pair, though that was only enough to perceive occasional snippets of their discussion. Any overall context was completely lost to her. To obtain a more complete understanding she needed to get even closer. That alone was a horribly risky proposition when her goal was to shadow them while remaining undetected. It was made even worse by her fatigue. But, there were few opportunities as pristine as the one spread before her in terms of gathering intelligence about one of their enemies.

They stopped walking, prompting her to do the same after taking a few more paces. That extra distance proved to be critical to her as brought her close enough to hear the majority of sentences as opposed to just random words. The fact that the two began speaking in elevated tones did not hurt her chances either. Their spirited conversation exploded into a full-blown argument about policy, although even then they remained careful in their speech, using a language only few random passersby could easily comprehend and terms that none could recognize as threatening. Of course, Setsuna was no random passerby, and for all their care they could not conceal the meaning of their conversation from her.

"Come on, Rocha," she heard Grayson say. "You know just as well as anyone that such a redistribution of resources could only lead to disaster."

"Really? That's only because you didn't bother fully thinking through the strategy I gave you. Rotating our capital through a wider variety of investments ought to give us a much greater return in the long run."

"Maybe, if you neglect the substantial costs associated with continuously transferring our capital about. Not just that, but moving our more physical resources takes quite a long time that would negate any benefits you imagine. I'm not allowing such a radical shift in our strategy at this time."

Setsuna saw Rocha fold her hands across her chest and turn to Grayson a fierce glare. "Would you rather I present it directly to Jadeite instead? I'm sure he would agree with me."

"You can try, but I only see failure as a result." He shook his head, but otherwise appeared unmoved by her appeal. "There's a reason why I'm in charge of this division, and it's to make sure silly plans like that don't come along and ruin everything we've worked for. Though, we should stop bickering out here and hurry back to the office."

That was the cue Setsuna used to slowly shuffle away from the pair before her increasing hunger and tiredness got the better of her. All of the meandering and sneaking about merely worsened those sensations. Her original destination was about a kilometer north of her location, which meant waiting even longer for a bus to arrive before she could satiate her hunger. In the end, her suffering was worthwhile as it presented her a useful nugget of information, so long as she could decipher its meaning. As she sat at the bench and waited for her bus, her mind began working to determine exactly that.

 _Who is Jadeite, and what does he have to do with the Dark Kingdom's plans?_

—|1|2|3| **4** |—

The creaking of a nearby door startled Makoto and directed her attention to Aika's appearance. The woman held a cup of water in one hand, quite a feat in itself given her rampant trembling only a few minutes earlier. She cocked her head to one side in confusion when she noticed the brunette.

"Are you okay? Why are you blushing so hard?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Nevertheless, the girl swiftly tried her best to avoid the inquisitive gaze of her older companion. "Anyway, I should be asking you that question."

"It's just a horrible reaction I typically have with large crowds, but nothing to get too worried over. All I need is a few minutes alone and I'm back to my usual self. But, thanks for waiting on me." With a bright smile on her lips, she slid to Makoto's side and tenderly grabbed hold of one of the girl's arms. "You said you were heading to a restaurant of some sort, I think. Don't mind if I tag along, do you? In fact, it'll be my treat."

"O-okay."

After walking for ten minutes, though without Aika hanging onto her the entire time to a nervous Makoto's relief, the pair arrived at the dessert restaurant. Opening the door brought forth a sweet aroma that tickled their noses and caused their mouths to water. Then they stepped through the threshold and immediately bore witness to the true majesty of culinary delicacies.

"Wow!" Makoto's eyes widened with awe as she gazed about the small yet crowded space. "Minako-chan would be so jealous of me if she had any idea of just how amazing this place is."

"Who's Minako?"

The question caught her off guard, though not as badly as Aika's pout. "Oh, uh… just a really good friend of mine."

"Hmm." Her sulky mood disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived, leaving behind a lively grin on her lips and making Makoto even more perplexed. "Never mind, it's nothing important. Shall we grab a table?"

"And how might I help you two ladies this morning?"

Neither woman had noticed the man standing in front of them. At the same time, neither had perceived the hint of irritation in his voice for being ignored for so long. Makoto turned to face the headwaiter with a nervous smile, receiving a genial smile in return. Aika, on the other hand, seemed to be preoccupied with her own world, her gaze fixed upon a spot at the back of the room. It was only when the brunette tapped her shoulder that she remembered that she was not alone.

"Tanaka-san?"

"Ah, sorry Makoto-chan." Even as she spoke, her eyes never really deviated from that portion of the room. "I kinda got sidetracked there for a minute. What happened?"

"I just told the waiter about my friend's upcoming birthday party and the possibility of holding it here, so long as there's space and the food is worth the trip."

"What did he say?"

"Reservations are usually tight during the weekend and most evenings, but there're more openings during the early afternoon hours. I don't know how that'll help. But, he said he'd talk to the owner, who's apparently here today."

"Uh-huh."

The frown that warped Aika's features greatly disturbed Makoto, mainly because she did not know what had angered the woman. Only when she followed her companion's narrow-eyed gaze did she obtain a tiny sliver of an answer. However, the blond-haired man who emerged from a backroom door behind the headwaiter seemed less furious than Aika as he stared at her with equal intensity. He even sported a marginal smirk as he stopped a few feet before the pair and bowed.

"It's quite a pleasant surprise to see you here."

Aika snorted. "That's my line, though 'pleasant' is not a word I'd use to describe it."

"I'm certain there's an easy way to fix that." Makoto could see his piercing blue eyes narrow slightly as he maintained his forceful gaze upon the older woman.

"Heh. You have no idea just how easy it is. But, you never were that bright anyway, so I wouldn't be shocked if you never figured it out."

"Maybe so, but as you can clearly see just by looking around that I'm still far more successful than you'd ever become."

"Until that dream collapses around you due to your own stupidity."

Makoto was beyond perplexed as she observed the burgeoning argument between Aika and the restaurant's owner. She was stuck between not wanting to wade into the middle of the fracas and trying to prevent it from drawing too much attention to them from the other patrons. Ultimately she settled upon bringing the conversation back to the reason she had traveled there in the first place as gently as possible. Thus, she slowly placed herself between the two, brought a hand to her mouth, and loudly coughed. It immediately caught the attention of both belligerents.

"Oh, please accept my apologies," the man said, momentarily bowing before Makoto with an arm crossed in front of his chest. "It was not my intention to ignore such a lovely young lady and potential customer. My name is Takeda Masaru and I'm the owner of this fine restaurant. And, you are?"

"Kino Makoto." The brunette shifted her gaze back and forth between the two. "I take it you two know each other?"

"Unfortunately." Aika turned toward Makoto, throwing one hand up in a dismissive wave at Masaru while wrapping her other arm around the girl's waist. "But I'm long over that jerk now, so don't worry about it."

"Clearly. That said, at least you have good taste, so at least try to treat her decently." The smirk that had faded earlier reappeared with a vengeance. "Though, if she does ever mistreat you, Kino-san, know that you have an ally here."

"T-thanks, I guess." Wriggling free of Aika's unexpectedly tight grasp only partly reduced the furious blush that covered her cheeks. "A-anyway, I didn't think I'd make such a mess by coming here. All I wanted to do was try out the food."

Masaru nodded. "That is something with which I can definitely help you. I do recall my headwaiter saying something about one of your friends having a birthday celebration here in a few days."

"Yes, this Wednesday. I heard great things about this place, but I wanted to make sure the food was good before we all made the long trip here."

"That's understandable, but it's nothing you should worry about as you came to the right place. Our desserts are the best in all of Japan." He ignored the loud grumbles that originated from behind him when he placed an arm around Makoto's shoulders as the pair began walking toward the kitchen. "If you don't mind, I'll show you what treats we have to offer."

"S-sure."

Aika broke into a jog to ensure she was not left behind. "Hey! Don't forget about me!"

Her jaw fell agape almost the instant Makoto stepped through the threshold. Before her lied a proper kitchen, with all of the cookware and utensils she could ever imagine owning. Beyond that, the aromas of all of the different meals being prepared made her feel as though she were in culinary heaven. As such, she remained oblivious to the rather tight confines of the space, rubbing elbows with Aika on her left and Masaru on her right as the trio tried not to interfere too much with operations. Yet, the kitchen's owner was prepared to do exactly that, if only for the benefit of a future customer.

"Impressive, isn't it?" His grin was friendlier than any he had directed at Aika thus far.

"Absolutely."

He handed a small booklet to Makoto, which she graciously accepted. "Our menu is quite expansive. It is also quite expensive, but great quality does not come cheap. However, for you, I am more than willing to let you sample some of our cakes for free."

She pointed a finger at two of the cakes her epicurean mind found most appealing. Not to be completely ignored, Aika swiftly leaned in and indicated her own choice. That latter act generated a nasty scowl that he did not hesitate to direct at the woman. Nevertheless, he raised a hand to gesticulate across the kitchen to one of the chefs, who immediately set to work creating smaller versions of all three desserts. As she worked, Masaru led the two women back out into the dining area.

"So, the other thing my headwaiter told me about was your inquiry about reserving a table. If I might ask, what size party should we expect?"

A nervous smile of anticipation tugged at Makoto's lips. "Just five of us." She opened her mouth to continue speaking, but quickly closed it when she felt a hand tenderly grasp her forearm.

"Shouldn't it be six of us? Are you saying I'm not invited?"

Just like previously, Makoto could feel her body, and especially her cheeks, go warm upon feeling that strange woman's touch. What made that particular instance different from all others was her intense feeling of exasperation. She knew that Aika could feel her trembling, but as she recounted Setsuna's words from earlier that morning she realized that she alone understood the reason why. In her mind that had to change, and it had to change immediately. Thus, she barely registered any hints of regret when she used her free hand to remove Aika's.

"I'm sorry, Tanaka-san, but it is just five. We've only just met, and the others have no idea who you are."

"Wouldn't that be a good reason for me to go, then? To get to know the rest of your friends?"

"Somehow, I don't think that would be right." Makoto closed her eyes and shook her head. When she reopened them, they displayed a new and utterly fearsome sense of resolve. "And it's not even like we're really friends ourselves. We just met an hour ago, and the only reason you're here with me is to thank me for helping you. But, I think you're going way too far now. I'm…" She hesitated for a few moments as she sensed Aika's growing dejection, but she knew what had to be said despite the pain it might cause. "Sorry, but I don't like girls like that."

"I get it. You don't want anything to do with me. Fine." Aika's voice barely rose above a whisper as she glanced at Masaru before turning her attention fully to Makoto. She leaned so that her lips were right next to the younger girl's ear. "I really wanted to be friends with you, but you ruined it. Don't think I'll be so nice if we ever see each other again."

Makoto could not help but to shrug as she watched her former companion sluggishly depart, utter confusion long since replacing her annoyance. Masaru merely hummed with delight.

"Consider yourself lucky that your 'relationship' with her ended so early. The less often you associate with her, the better off you'll be."

"Was she always so… strange?"

"You have no idea." He brought a hand to his face to muffle a yawn, and then turned a wide smile to the girl. "Anyway, now is not the time to be bothered by such things, as we still have to resolve the question of reservations."

"R-right."

It required a few minutes of waiting and negotiating with the headwaiter, but the payoff was a secure table for her friends when Rei's birthday finally arrived. She had reserved the option of cancelling the reservation if she did not believe the food was up to par. A few more minutes of waiting let her know that there was no need. The chef emerged from the kitchen holding a box, and Makoto didn't have to even open the lid to know that the cakes within smelled delicious. A single bite of the red velvet cake was enough to seal the deal in her mind.

"So, is it settled then?"

Her enthusiasm was blatant in her vigorous nodding. "Yes. Thank you so much for these cakes. I have a friend would just love to try one right away."

"It truly is my pleasure. I'm just thrilled that you chose us, and I assure you we will do everything to make certain you and your friends have a most enjoyable party." He retrieved a business card from his wallet and bowed while presenting it to her. "If you have any questions, or want to schedule any more reservations with us, please feel free to call."

Makoto returned the gesture as she accepted the card. "I absolutely will." She gave the man a genial wave before heading toward the exit door. "Thanks, Takeda-san!"

Once the door had closed and the girl had begun her trek back to the train station, Masaru walked to his headwaiter. The older, slightly balding man gave him a single nod in acknowledgement before joining him at a secluded location at the back of the kitchen. The younger man leaned casually against a wall while his older counterpart preferred to remain standing.

"I think it will be a good idea to give our head chef a break this Wednesday," Masaru said. "What do you think?"

The older man chuckled. "I couldn't agree more. The remaining staff should be competent enough, especially since you picked them yourself."

"True." He tried to stifle a gaping yawn and failed miserably. "Oh, before I forget to say it, thanks for taking over the headwaiter job with such short notice, Ichikawa. I figured the normal guy, as wonderful as he is, just wouldn't cut it in such a special circumstance. You did well."

"My pleasure, sir." A bow of Ichikawa's head sufficed to show his gratitude.

"Anyway, I'm going to head home and take a nap." He pushed himself away from the wall and began to walk away, but stopped after a few paces and turned to Ichikawa once again. "You're free to leave as well. I'm sure you just received a lot of new work for your normal job that you'd want to get done."

"Indeed. I'll only be a few more minutes here."

Masaru nodded and proceeded to walk through the kitchen door out into the alley. Before exiting, he turned and gave Ichikawa one last request.

"If you happen to see dear Aika again anytime soon in this area of town, please let me know. There's a very special treat I want to give her."

—| **Author's Note** |—

A new chapter delivered as promised. Thank you all once again for reading and for any comments you guys have given me so far! As a head's up, I plan on posting the next chapter after the turn of the new year. Until then, I hope you all enjoy the holidays and I'll see you in 2018!


	14. A Birthday Surprise

**14 | A Birthday Surprise**

"Rei?"

The girl in question hardly displayed any recognition of the fact someone had called her name. Her gaze did not dare deviate from the yellow flames that danced mere feet in front of her seated frame. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead and matted her hair, but she remained oblivious to such a minor inconvenience. Nor did she perceive the soft echoes of footsteps that gradually grew louder from behind. All of her concentration was devoted to the intricate motions made by her fingers and her monotone chanting. Nothing else existed within her world. At least, not until she felt something lightly grasp her shoulder. No earthquake had ever caused her to shudder quite as hard.

"G-Grandpa?"

He leveled a gentle stare at the young girl. "I can feel that there's something deeply troubling you, my dear."

"I was just thinking." Her sigh exuded desperation. "There's an awful lot on my mind right now, as you might imagine."

"All that worry on such a glorious day, one you should be celebrating, is never a good thing. It should be a lot happier, really."

"If the gods will it to be, but I'm feeling so much anxiety right now that I doubt it."

"Yes, if it truly is the gods' will." His demeanor soon became as solemn as his granddaughter's. "I figure the thing you're worried about has something to do about you being Sailor Mars."

"I'm not sure it really matters whether or not I'm a senshi or not if the events I see in my mind become reality."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

A new wave of depression seemed to fall over the girl, and it showed in the way she pulled her knees into her chest. "Do you remember what I told you about some of the nightmares I had been suffering for the past few weeks?"

"I don't think I could ever forget such terrible visions even if I tried." His granddaughter fell into the tender hug he offered her without hesitation. "So long as we're here, giving you all the support and love you need, you shouldn't have anything to fear."

"I… I don't know if that's true. I mean, I know you love me, and Yuuichirou too, and I know both of you would do all that you could to help. However, I doubt that you'd have the power to actually stop me if worst came to worst."

"Maybe not, but that's why we have to help you before things go that far." He pulled her closer to his chest and carefully tightened his embrace. "Sure, neither of us could stand against you in a match of magical powers, but I bet we can help you exorcise the demons that haunt your soul so that we never have to try."

"I hope so."

"That's what you're trying to do, right? Perform an exorcism on yourself?"

Her chuckle wasn't mirthful, but considering the circumstances it was good enough and far better than her previously dour expression. "I guess so, if you put it that way. It doesn't seem to be working so well, though. Not for me, at least."

"You know, Rei, many people would give away all of their wealth and worldly belongings to obtain even a tiny fraction of the immense perseverance you possess. None of them will ever have to deal with anything nearly as important to humanity as your current struggle." He loosened his grip and turned her so that he could better see his granddaughter's face. "Given what I've seen of you so far, I'd have to say you're doing a pretty good job by yourself with what should be an impossible task."

"What do you mean?" Confusion wracked her features. "I haven't been able to fix anything about me. I still have nightmares where I feel such intense hatred for her that I try to kill her."

"And, what happens to her, this princess of yours? Do you succeed in killing her?"

"No. Not anymore. But—"

Although tiny, the smile that graced his lips was exceptionally heartfelt. "Then you're far better off than where you started."

"Still, the mere thought of doing anything to harm my princess absolutely sickens me, especially after all the pain I've already dealt her."

While she shook her head in anguish, he glanced skyward and hummed a quiet tune of contemplation. A few moments later he returned his gaze to her, one that was vastly more inquisitive if not even slightly playful.

"Even now, I don't really know who this princess is you desperately want to save. Would I know her if I saw her? Have I seen her before already?"

"I can't tell you. I mean, I wish I could, but it just doesn't feel right to do so now." He frowned, and strangely enough his reaction brought forth in the form of her grin her first true hints of levity that morning. "If everything works out, and I manage to rid myself of these awful nightmares and the feelings behind them, then maybe she could tell you everything you want to know in person."

"I would like that very much." He soon sported a similar grin, though his was more mischievous. "I have a feeling she's really cute. Do you think she would be available to take a part-time job here at the shrine? We could always use some more beautiful maidens to help you out with your duties."

She shot to her feet, set her hands squarely on her hips, and directed a heated glare in the face of his spirited chuckling. "Grandpa!"

"I'm just kidding. Not that I would mind if she volunteered, but I can imagine there are far more important tasks ahead for her." He was more languid in rising from his crouch compared to Rei. "However, none of that will occur unless Yuuichirou-san and I can help you, and quickly at that. I don't imagine we could cure you in a day, but if we started now we might be able to shorten that time."

"You mean, right now?"

Once again he chuckled. "Not exactly. There's still a lot of work you have to do for this morning. And, I imagine Yuuichirou-san has something special planned for you after you return home from school."

"What is it?"

"I can't say. It'll spoil the surprise, and you know how terrible that would be." Though muted, he easily heard her annoyed grumbling. "Tomorrow afternoon is when we'll begin. I should have everything prepared by then. Until then, you should try your best to enjoy yourself."

Her slow nod conveyed very little enthusiasm. "Yeah…"

Sensing as much, the old man slowly approached and wrapped her into yet another tight hug, one that she wasted little time in returning. "I mean it, my precious Rei. We love you very, very much, you know."

"I know, grandpa."

"I'm sure your friends love you too. _All_ of them. They're here for you and are just as willing to help you through this as we are. None of us want to see you going around feeling so miserable." He gently patted the girl atop her head, causing her to squirm slightly. "So, cheer up, okay?"

For several moments, all she could do was blankly stare at the wall as her mind struggled to grasp the significance of his words. What did he mean by stressing the word _all_ , as though he sensed more about her situation than he let on? After a while, she shook her head. None of those questions seemed to matter when a hopeful smile started to tug at her lips.

"I will, grandpa. I absolutely will."

—|1| **2** |3|4|5|6|7|—

The sun had already crested the horizon when Usagi lethargically rolled out of her bed and fell to the floor. Even then, the young blonde was still mostly asleep and remained completely unaware of the impact. Plainly, it meant that her initial plan had failed, and poor Luna was left with nothing to show for all of her exertion. The constantly blaring alarm clock also did the feline no favors. She contemplated switching to her backup plan, one she had not utilized in over a month. It pained her to even think about doing something so evil to her charge, but the alarm had failed miserably, and so had the more physical approach. Usagi, her princess, the girl who had matured so quickly after enduring such misery, just flatly refused to wake up. She shook her head, climbed onto one of the girl's sprawled legs, crouched upon her chest, and extended a paw. However, right before initiating the plan, Luna heard a soft creaking emanate from behind her, the result of the bedroom door being pushed open. Her initial look of surprise disappeared quickly, replaced by utmost resolve as she leaped away and took a seat across the room.

"Usagi! For goodness sake, wake up already! If you don't, I'll have no option but to give your breakfast to Shingo! It turns out he also likes chocolate chip pancakes!"

And thus Luna's exigency was rewarded when she saw Usagi rise to a seated position with unusual haste. She had also ensured that her ears were covered in anticipation of the loud wail that promptly ensued.

" _No!_ Not the chocolate chip pancakes! Don't hurt her! _Please!_ " Once Usagi rubbed her eyes and focused her vision upon the woman standing a few feet in front of her, her face became twisted by utter perplexity. "Mama?"

"Do you know what time it is?"

She twisted around to look over her shoulder for the alarm clock where she expected to find it, only to find the side of her bed instead. Her confusion only intensified up to the point that she realized the clock was being held right in front of her. By then, the alarm had been shut off, which was a godsend for everyone in the room.

"Oh. Sorry 'bout that."

"It's quite okay. You still have thirty minutes before you're late for class. That should be plenty of time for breakfast, if you hurry."

Usagi nodded and started to walk for the bathroom, only to be stopped along the way by a gentle tug of her arm.

"Hmm?"

"Is there anything wrong? The way you yelled when you finally woke up, it sure sounded like you weren't dreaming about breakfast." Ikuko grimaced slightly as she carefully studied her daughter. "Did you have another premonition?"

After a few contemplative moments, Usagi replied with a shrug. "I'm not really sure. I didn't feel a strange cold or pain as I usually do when that happens. I think it was more of a dream than anything, or maybe a nightmare. It's all very fuzzy in my mind right now."

"Is there any part of it you can remember?"

"Rei-chan was there, and she was hurting a lot." Her long pigtails spilled over her shoulders as she lowered her head in sorrow. "I tried to help her. I really, really did. Nothing worked."

"Who was hurting Rei-san?"

"I don't know. I couldn't really see anyone else there, and I don't remember sensing any negative energy either."

Ikuko plaintively nodded. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know that either. The dream-nightmare-whatever thing ended before I could find out. It probably wasn't anything good, though. I just hope nothing bad actually happens to Rei-chan."

"I imagine that means you've fully forgiven her?"

She turned a solemn gaze upward at her mother. "There's still the issue of her subconscious hatred of me and whether she would act out on it. For a while I didn't want to meet her or be around her, not because I was still angry at her but because I was frightened of her and of what she could possibly do without even knowing it. However, instead of being scared of her, now I'm more scared _for_ her. I know she's going through a lot and she's suffering because of it, and I desperately want to help her."

A series of giggles preceded the smile that graced Ikuko's lips. "In that case, I'm certain that Rei-san will be absolutely thrilled to see you later this evening."

Usagi mirrored that brilliant grin. "I can't wait to see her either, and I have the perfect gift to give her."

"Before you do that, you do have to remember to get ready for school. You only have twenty-five minutes to get there."

Ikuko laughed as she shuffled toward the wall just in time to avoid colliding with the yellow blur that raced toward the bathroom. She spotted Luna and gave the black cat a playful wink before following her daughter out of the bedroom. For her part, the tiny advisor merely buried her face within her paws and shook her head.

—|1|2| **3** |4|5|6|7|—

"So, Jadeite is the name of the so-called superior that Grayson referenced?" Michiru could not suppress her grin as she slowly sipped the green tea her host had graciously provided her. "It makes sense that he would be another member of the Shitennou, if the name provides any indication."

Setsuna nodded in acknowledgement. "Actually, it was his subordinate who directly mentioned him, but I agree with your supposition that he is the Shitennou general we seek. Either way, I think it is sensible to speak with Kunzite and find out what he knows about this Jadeite."

"How do we accomplish that without drawing the guardian senshi's attention? We don't have an easy way of contacting him except through either Usagi-san or Ami-san." She brought the teacup to her lips and was about to tilt it backward to take a sip when inspiration struck. "Oh. What about Saeko-san? She's not a senshi, certainly, and even though she is Ami-san's mother, she's also very logical and would likely understand the reasoning behind our strategy."

"Indeed. I assume you have a way of contacting her."

"We exchanged cell phone numbers when we left her house to travel to the train station."

"That's not a very secure mode of communication." Setsuna rose from her seat with cup in hand and began to meander toward the kitchen. "The encryption guarding regular cellular phone networks is easily broken, and not just by a group as sophisticated and well-equipped as the Dark Kingdom."

"I understand your concern, but short of taking the _Shinkansen_ all the way to Kyoto, we have no real way of speaking to her."

A loud sigh emanated from the kitchen. "Sometimes we must accept risks that we'd otherwise avoid in order to see the mission to completion."

"Encountering risk is just part of the job description."

"And minimizing needless risk to the best of our abilities allows us to continue to perform our vital duties without failure."

Michiru giggled. "You are so unlike my dear Haruka-chan."

"Naturally." Setsuna emerged from the kitchen holding a tray of scones, which she gently rested on the coffee table before sitting next to Michiru on the sofa. "I certainly understand her gravitation toward risky endeavors, and though I don't always agree with her viewpoint toward strategy I am able to see where it can be useful to us. But, enough about that. We have a way of contacting Kunzite, albeit indirectly. Once we learn from him the information he has about Jadeite, then we can better hone our strategy."

Michiru reached forward to sample one of the scones. A mischievous smile toyed with her lips by the time she fell back into the sofa's cushions.

"How in the world did you manage to weasel such information from Grayson in the first place?"

"I didn't desire his company when I found him, if that's what you're implying." She maintained a steady gaze at her companion in the face of such obvious teasing. "In fact, I did not speak with him directly at all. Instead, I was returning home from a horrible day at work and decided to take a short detour toward a restaurant in Adachi for dinner. That's when I spotted him and this Rocha person. The debate in my mind of whether to immediately turn around and walk away or stalk him to glean any useful information was quite fierce. Despite being exhausted and hungry, I decided to sacrifice myself for the greater good."

"You know what, Setsuna-san." Michiru shifted her legs around so she could lean closer to the time senshi and point her lighthearted grin at the woman. "I take back what I said. You're actually more similar to Haruka-chan than I previously imagined."

Setsuna opted not to give any sort of outward response and instead merely took a sip of her tea. "I also happened to run into Makoto-san right before my encounter with Grayson."

"Oh? What was she doing all the way in Adachi?"

"She was investigating a restaurant that had opened recently as a potential location to hold Rei-san's upcoming birthday party. Apparently, she wanted to perform a taste test before committing to the place. But, that's not the most interesting part of our impromptu meeting."

"What was?"

"The friend she had accompanying her." Her lips betrayed a hint of a smirk. "Her 'friend' was a woman who most certainly was not one of the other senshi. They appeared to be rather close with the way Makoto-san allowed the woman to hold her around the waist."

"Hmm… I never thought of Makoto-san as being—"

"She isn't. To be more precise, she stringently denies it and I have no reason not to believe her. And, to be honest, I was teasing her when I mentioned it to her at the time."

"You really can be evil at times."

Setsuna took another sip of tea and set the cup down on the table alongside Michiru's. "Maybe, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make. When I found Makoto, I faintly perceived a type of negative energy hovering around where she and that strange woman had stopped. That woman had entered one of the buildings and I couldn't really see her face, but I strongly doubt it matters much."

"Let me guess. You suspect she's Sazaratha, right?" The reply of a single nod prompted the ocean senshi to swiftly adopt a very solemn demeanor. "I hope you realize how serious a matter this is for Sazaratha to be shadowing one of the senshi like that. From what Kunzite told Haruka-chan and me, that demon is anything but human, quite unlike the Shitennou. Any human appearance that thing has is merely a disguise, one that results in the death of an innocent person. Furthermore, she might be a lot more powerful than she let on during the one time that we fought her."

There was no hiding Setsuna's disappointment even as she averted her gaze. "I wish I had that information beforehand, as I would have more directly advised Makoto-san about the threat that was around her."

"I really can't blame you for not knowing, as you weren't with us when Kunzite explained Sazaratha's nature to us."

"If there was any sort of saving grace, it was the fact that Sazaratha appeared to be in great distress, enough to need assistance at least. However, it just as well might have been some sort of deception." She sighed. "What I don't understand is how she could locate Makoto in Adachi when she would not expect to find any of the senshi there."

"Well, where did you find Makoto-san?"

"Near the train station, naturally."

Michiru's raucous laughter utterly confused Setsuna until the former eventually regained her composure and began to speak. "Kunzite did say that Sazaratha really hated being stuck in large crowds of people, and the train in Tokyo is about as crowded as humanity gets. Her apparent distress might have been a reaction to traveling in a train to keep up with Makoto-san after initially locating her in Juuban."

"I imagine the only reason Sazaratha tolerated such suffering was that she presumed maintaining her cover would have been worthwhile in the end. Normally I'm not so concerned for the guardian senshi, but I have to wonder what happened to Makoto-san after I left. I sincerely hope she was not attacked, as I doubt she would fare very well if what you said is correct."

"Kunzite may be able to fill us in when we talk to him."

"Whatever the outcome, he would certainly know about any attack against the guardian senshi." She delivered to Michiru a sluggish nod of her head after rising from the sofa. "Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to visit me once again. I truly wish Haruka-chan could have found the time to join us as I miss seeing her as well."

"The racing season begins this weekend after all, so she hasn't found much time away from her team. Of course, we both understand why she's feeling so stressful. However, it gets much better once the season is underway."

"I hope so."

A few seconds of awkward silence passed between the moment Setsuna began a slow trek for the door and her realization that Michiru was not going to join her. She shook her head and turned back, only to be met with a wide smirk.

"Oh, I'm not leaving yet. I've only just started to enjoy your hospitality, after all. Not only that, but I don't really have anything to do until my recital practice later this afternoon." The smirk morphed into a more genuine smile. "Rather, there's not much else I _want_ to do, honestly."

As a person who preferred to be seen by others as knowledgeable yet somewhat aloof, if not even enigmatic, Setsuna was not a woman who was prone to crying, especially in public. However, she could do little to prevent the tears that welled in her eyes or the smile that lightly tugged at her lips. She furtively knocked the tears away before turning to her dear friend once more.

"In that case, I doubt you would mind if I brought you more tea."

—|1|2|3| **4** |5|6|7|—

A worrisome groan slipped from Rei's mouth as she allowed her head to contact the polished wooden surface of her desk. No matter how diligently she tried to focus on the unintelligible symbols scrawled across the whiteboard, she could attain no further understanding. Nor could she make heads or tails of the strange sounds emanating from the woman standing just in front of that board. That person could have been talking about the finer points of Renaissance-era art or quantum mechanics for all she knew. She did not know and, quite frankly, she really did not care. All she could think about was what might occur later that night, when she would finally meet with the girl she both desperately wanted to protect and, beyond the bounds of her consciousness, vehemently wanted to kill.

 _Usagi…_ Lost in her own thoughts, she barely noticed that she had sighed. _I'm trying my hardest, but I really don't know if I can stop myself. Whatever happens, I pray that you know that I absolutely love you and never actually want to hurt you, ever._

In her mind, she knew nobody else around her had felt the chill that had raced its way down her spine and caused her to hug herself tightly. The long sleeves of her blouse did nothing to prevent her misery. After a few seconds, she tentatively reached for her sweater, but even slipping it over her arms barely assuaged the ever-present sensation of cold. It was a futile effort. Fortunately, warmth returned to her almost as quickly as it had left.

"Hino-san? Are you okay?"

No longer was that woman speaking gibberish at the front of the room. Instead, she hovered over Rei's shoulder with outright concern scrawled across her face. The proximity caused Rei to flinch.

"I-I'm fine. Really."

"Not with that faraway look that you've been having ever since the beginning of class, you aren't." One hand rested at her hip while the other pointed toward the door leading to the hallway. "It might be a good idea for you to see the nurse if you're not feeling well."

Rei opened her mouth, but the harsh protest she planned to issue died before it passed her lips. Instead, she gave the woman a solemn nod before gathering her belongings, haphazardly stuffing them into her attaché case, and shuffling out of the room.

 _Heh. She's right, after all. I'm absolutely not feeling well, but it's nothing our nurse would be able to fix. Maybe I'll just take a short walk outside to clear my head, if that's even possible._

Her gaze never wandered far from the ground as she meandered through the hallways almost robotically. Her thoughts began to drift to that one subject she never wanted to contemplate, but always seemed to haunt her ever since that fateful evening.

 _I know I promised grandpa I would cheer up, but it's really, really hard, especially after what I just felt. That had to be a premonition of some kind, but what? Why would I suddenly feel so cold and so… alone?_

An almost debilitating shudder caused her to freeze in her tracks and lean against the nearby wall with an outstretched hand. Tears welled in her eyes, and she did little to fight them back.

 _Dear God, I hope that's not what it truly meant. I wouldn't be able to bear it. I'd rather die, even if it meant not being able to see Usagi-chan one more time._ She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head. _No, I can't give up yet. I_ shouldn't _give up yet. I have to believe that their love will guide me and help me overcome this. And, if worse comes to worst, it is Usagi-chan we're talking about. She managed to heal Kunzite. I'm certain she can heal me too. So, I have to keep my head up._

She shoved her body away from the wall and began to march with a newfound determination toward the door leading outside. That single-mindedness drove skyward her spirits, but at the same time it drove her directly into and over one of her classmates. Fortunately, she was not so distracted to not perceive what she had done, nor was she so callous as to ignore the girl slowly picking herself up from the floor.

"Oh." Rei did not bow deeply, but her remorse still was plainly evident. "Sorry about that."

"Rei-sama!" Her eyes widened as she leaped to her feet and immediately returned the gesture. "No, no! You don't have to apologize to me! It's my fault. I should've been paying more attention to where I was going."

"Maybe so. But, you look like you're okay so I'm going to go now. I'll see you later." She turned to walk away after a noncommittal bob of her head.

"Please wait, Rei-sama! I didn't get a chance to properly wish you a happy birthday yet!"

If only to satisfy her curiosity, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder at the girl. "How did you know it was my birthday?"

"I, uh…"

Even though they were peers at a relatively small school, it did not mean that everyone knew everyone else or even knew much about their fellow students. That was especially true concerning Rei. Her position at T-A Academy was paradoxical at best in that the student body regarded her well, probably because of her father's influence. At the same time, she effectively was a social pariah, maybe for the same reason. Both aspects were reflected by the way the other girl swiftly looked askance and fidgeted with her fingers upon hearing the question. Yet, there were things the shrine maiden did not expect others to know, and that was one of them.

"Well?"

"Sorry, Rei-sama." There was no mistaking the deep crimson enveloping her cheeks despite her best attempts to conceal it behind long strands of brown hair. "I-I won't bother you any more about it if you don't want me to. I didn't even have time to get you a good gift anyway." She bowed even more deeply. "I'm very sorry."

Rei passed a blank stare at the girl for several moments before shrugging with indifference. "Thank you anyway, I guess. Though, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you."

She faced forward and started to walk away once again. And, once again, she did not manage to go very far before being interrupted, this time when she heard footsteps behind her. The petulant sigh she exhaled seemed to echo off the walls. It was no surprise that her dogged companion took a backward step upon seeing the heated glare the shrine maiden pointed at her.

"What?"

"N-nothing." She waved her hands in front of her, but that defensive posture soon gave way to a nervous smile. "Though, I did want to ask you if you were going to participate in this year's culture festival. I'd really like it if you joined us in organizing it."

It was not something she had seriously considered in the past or wanted to think about at that moment given her more pressing concerns. Yet, she was not completely against the idea, especially when it provided her with a useful advantage in progressing another of her passions.

"I don't know if I have time, but I'll think about it…"

It took the girl very little time to comprehend Rei's unasked question from the slight tilt of her head and the growing look of confusion on her face.

"Fujihara Mika. I'm on the organization committee, and I would be thrilled if you decided to help us. In fact, we would love even more to have you as our leader."

"I'll let you know, Fujihara-san." She quickly swiveled, turning her back to Mika as she folded her arms before her chest. "But, I swear I really do have to go now. Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"Not that I can think of. Have a good evening, Rei-sama."

Rei could feel palpable disappointment in the girl's voice, but she waited until the footsteps faded until she displayed any response. It came in the form of an annoyed groan.

 _Sheesh! What the hell is wrong with these people here and their inability to take a hint? I still don't know how on earth she managed to find out when my birthday was._ As she walked through the door and out into the courtyard, she could no longer suppress her urge to chuckle and shake her head. _Hopefully she's just as dedicated toward other things as she is in trying to win me over, because that's a task that could only end in disappointment._

—|1|2|3|4| **5** |6|7|—

Makoto dropped her head and sighed when she saw her blonde-haired companion rush up to the storefront window and nearly press her face squarely against the glass. She could easily predict Masaru's annoyance for having to clean the puddle of drool that indubitably would have been left behind. Yet, at the same time she understood her friend's unbridled desire and impatience. She just wished that Minako would not act like a starving puppy, especially in public.

"Oh my goodness, Mako-chan! This stuff looks amazing!" Her eyes were wide with anticipation when she turned around to gaze at Makoto. "We _definitely_ have to come here more often!"

"You know I'm not going to pay for you to come down here all the time."

"But, Mako-chan…"

"Chill, girl. That's not happening." She hid her shaking head and embarrassed expression behind a hand. "Besides, we're not even at the actual restaurant yet. It's the next block over."

"We're not?" She looked at the sign near the door and puckered upon realizing her obvious mistake. "Oh." Then, a burst of inspiration struck. "But, while we're here, we could…"

"Let's go, Minako-chan. The others are waiting on us."

The pair arrived at the proper restaurant a few minutes later. Minako did not rush the window as before, but only because a sharp tug of her arm prevented her from straying very far. Once inside, it did not take them very long to spot the table Makoto had reserved a few days earlier. It was the only one that was sparsely populated in the busy establishment. The brunette shrugged when she spotted a pair of girls sitting at that table.

"Hmm, Usagi-chan and Ami-chan are here, but where's Rei-chan?"

—|1|2|3|4|5| **6** |7|—

That question was easily answered by the sulking shrine maiden, who vigorously rubbed her arms with her hands in an attempt to warm them. The light jacket she donned was not enough to block the chilly air, and her misery only intensified with every stray breeze. She did not have an opportunity to change into warmer clothing after departing a dinner meeting with her father. The engagement had fouled the airy mood she had from her date with Yuuichirou. She hated that she had to leave him to meet with a man who did not have the courtesy to talk with her more than once a year. However, it was not the weather that had further irritated her, but the fact that she had not intended to be stuck in it for so long.

 _Where the hell is this bus?_ She reached a shivering hand into her purse, pulled out her cell phone, and groaned upon reading the time displayed on its screen. _It should have been here almost ten minutes ago. What's going on?_

A surge of adrenaline shot through her, and she rapidly swiveled about to find the source of the tapping sound she heard. Her narrow-eyed gaze landed on the warm blush and timid smile of a very familiar brunette.

"Good evening, Rei-sama. I'm very glad I to see you here."

Her shock might have dissipated, but it was merely replaced by annoyance. "I'm sure you are, Fujihara-san."

"I thought about our run-in earlier this morning, and I…"

"No, I haven't come to a decision yet, if that's what you've come to ask me about."

Mika's complexion turned a deeper shade of crimson as she shook her head. "That's not what I mean." The hands that were hidden behind her back came into view and revealed a small, ornately wrapped box. She presented the box with a low bow. "Please accept my gift for your birthday, Rei-sama."

She had no real expectation of receiving anything from a girl she regarded as nothing more than a classmate. However, Rei also knew it would have been extremely rude to deny Mika as harshly as her temptation demanded. After a moment of hesitation, she returned the bow, though not as deeply, and lifted the box from the outstretched hands.

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome." Her smile brightened, only to quickly disappear as confusion warped her features. "If I might ask, what brings you here? The Hikawa Shrine is pretty far away from here."

"Dinner." She ultimately decided that part of her answer did not merit greater explanation. "However, I would be heading back home if it weren't for a bus that doesn't want to show up."

"That's strange. It usually arrives promptly on schedule." A frown played with her lips upon peering at her wristwatch. "Ten minutes."

"Don't remind me. I probably should have just walked to the nearest train station." She started to rub her arms again, though it did little to prevent the rest of her body from shivering. "I'd be at home by now, and a lot warmer at that."

"My brother could give you a lift, if you don't mind. He owns a car." The suspicious glare she received upon making the suggestion prompted her to continue. "He's a good guy, and he already has a girlfriend so you don't need to worry. Besides, I'll be there too."

"It seems like I don't have much of a choice right now, especially if I want out of this cold." She huffed, but otherwise appeared resigned to her fate.

Mika's smile returned, and was even brighter than before. "I can't say I blame you, Rei-sama. The good news is I live right over there. You can walk with me, if you want."

"Fine. But, I hope you don't mind if I call my friends to let them know I'll be a bit late."

With a nod, the brunette pointed the way to go, and the two girls walked away from the bus stop. Their pace was especially swift, as Rei did not want to spend a second longer in the cold. Every step they took was one step closer to warmth and, for her, one step closer to meeting her friends. It was fitting then that the shrine maiden, with her attention captured by her cell phone conversation and her back to the street, failed to notice two things. One was the arrival of her bus, which slowed to a halt just as she rounded the corner, putting it out of sight. The other was the black sedan, one she had paid no attention to earlier, as it crawled away from its parking spot and slowly followed them around the corner.

—|1|2|3|4|5|6| **7** |—

Usagi heaved a sad sigh, and not even the delicious red velvet cake sitting in front of her could lift her spirits. "I know Rei-chan called to let us know she would be coming late, but that was a while ago now. Where could she possibly be? I want to see her." She pushed the plate away to make room for a pair of folded arms upon which she laid her head.

"Don't worry, Usagi-chan." As much as she absolutely loved the dessert, seeing her best friend and princess mired in melancholy killed her appetite. She wrapped an arm around her fellow blonde's shoulder and pulled her into a loose hug. "She'll be here soon. I know it."

"I'm trying to call her, but I'm getting no response," Makoto said, shaking her cell phone as if throttling it would solve her connection issues. "Could you try calling her, Ami-chan?"

"Sure." Instead of pulling out her cell phone, she retrieved her senshi communicator from her purse. "I'll see if I can send her a message with this. It should definitely work if she's anywhere within Tokyo."

The brunette grinned and leaned closer to Ami so that the other girl could hear her furtive whisper. "Or on Earth for that matter, given what you told us about these things. I'm still amazed at what you and Luna came up with."

"Thanks. I'm glad somebody here likes what's inside the thing more than the shell that's encasing it." A grimace replaced the faint smirk she had sported only seconds earlier. "Huh? I don't understand."

Minako turned a worried expression toward Ami. "What's wrong, Ami-chan?"

"It almost seems like Rei-chan's communicator is turned off, but that's practically impossible. Whatever the cause, I can't reach her no matter what I try."

"What if it's broken, like what happened earlier to Usagi-chan?" Makoto asked.

"Maybe, but I specifically designed the case to be even more resilient to damage than before."

The other three girls turned toward Usagi upon hearing her dismal whisper. "I think we should leave now. It's supposed to be Rei-chan's party, but it's so depressing that she's not here." She started to shiver despite the overall warm atmosphere, which only increased their apprehension. "I don't know why, but I feel that there's something very, very wrong. Something's wrong with Rei-chan, and there's nothing I can do to help her."

—| **Author's Note** |—

Welcome to 2018! Let it be better than 2017!

Thank you so much to everyone who has read and stuck with this story over the very, _very_ long time that I've been at this. I'll try my best to have regular updates as I can, as much as real life wants to get in the way. I should have the next chapter for you guys soon, though. As always, I fully appreciate any and comments.


	15. Captive Audience

**15 | Captive Audience**

 _Ugh… What the hell…? My head… I feel like I'm gonna vomit…_

Rei awoke to a searing pain in her head that seemed to start at her temples and sluggishly work its way to the back of her skull before reversing course. She groaned as her agony seemed never-ending. Not once during that ordeal did she dare open her eyes and risk increasing her misery. However, even though all she could see was darkness she could easily sense that much was amiss. As she pulled herself up from her prone position, the first thing she noticed was that she had been lying on a mattress. That alone was not a terrible thing, and she longed for the sleep it once gave her and promised once again. Yet, its surface felt much coarser to her skin than that of her futon, and it was far lumpier too. The second thing she realized was that she was not wearing her normal bedclothes, which once again ruled out the possibility that she was at home. She was not wearing her school uniform either, as far as she could tell. The fabric was soft enough to not be uncomfortable, and it seemed to cover her body down to her ankles. However, her new clothing would continue to be a mystery to her until she found the courage to open her eyes.

Two new stimulations knocked her out of her contemplative daze. The unmistakable aroma of smoked salmon tickled her nostrils and caused her stomach to grumble without her permission. A distinct tapping sound accompanied that delicious smell, one that grew louder and louder until it stopped a few feet next to her bed. She sluggishly turned her head in the direction where the tapping had died.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. You've been out for long enough. And you can open your eyes now as it should be dark enough not to hurt you."

The slightly high-pitched and assuredly feminine voice sounded friendly enough, though she could recognize a slight edge to the tone as it gave those orders. She paid that no mind though. Instead, she hesitantly blinked a few times before finally lifting her eyelids. Sure enough, there was only a slight improvement over the pitch-black environment that had previously surrounded her. Dull yellow light filtered from a series of lamps at the ceiling, providing just enough illumination to see the room. It was a sparsely decorated place, with the bed and a chair in one corner being the only furniture she could spot. When she turned her head back to her left she could see the person who had addressed her earlier. It was a woman who clearly looked about two decades older than her despite being no taller. Wavy brown hair bracketed her face, and when the woman leaned down to set the food tray next to the bed Rei could see that it extended to the middle of her back in a simple ponytail.

"I told you so," the woman said, sitting at the edge of the bed. A faint grin tugged at her lips. "Now, here's some breakfast for you. I hope you like salmon on rice."

The once-throbbing pain in her head seemed to diminish by the second, but that phenomenon did not completely allay her disorientation. She still desperately wanted to know why she was lying across a strange bed in an unfamiliar room, and she hoped her companion could provide her answers.

"Who are you?" Confusion was scrawled all over Rei's face as she stared at the mysterious woman with wide eyes. "Where am I?"

The woman's smile widened. "Oh, just a friend—if you play your cards right, that is. But, you can just call me Rosa. Unfortunately, I can't answer that second question for you. A little something called operational security, you see. We can't just let all sorts of secrets wonder out all willy-nilly."

"Operational security?"

"Yes. Being a young girl as yourself, you probably are unaware of such a thing. That's just fine though. Nobody expects that from you." The woman leaned in and gently patted Rei atop her head, eliciting a slight flinch from the shrine maiden upon her touch. "However, my masters absolutely do expect that from me, and I absolutely cannot disappoint them. So, that is the reason why I can't tell you where you are right now. What I can tell you is that you might be staying here for a while."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Understandably, Rei was unnerved by the last part of Rosa's answer and she wasted no time in displaying her anxiety.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" What previously had been a smile morphed into a definite smirk. "I thought you were a lot smarter than that, being a student of the prestigious T-A Academy after all. But, I guess we all can't be geniuses now, can we. I'll be nice and let you have one crack at figuring it out on your own."

As Rosa spoke, the more clearly Rei recognized an accent in her tone that most assuredly was foreign. It sounded vaguely English to her ears. Either way, she knew immediately what had happened. Naturally, anger quickly filled her spirit and permeated her voice.

"You've kidnapped me."

"Bravo!" Rosa swiftly leaped from the bed and, with obvious sarcasm in her mannerisms, clapped her hands. "Though, you shouldn't be too afraid, not of me at least. As I said, I'm your friend here. The others, not so much. If you keep straight and play along with me, then you should do alright, and you'll never have to see any of them."

Rei glared at the woman. "And, if I don't?"

A sinister chuckle echoed about the room. "That's not really up to me, but, knowing my compatriots' lust for blood, I would have to say that you wouldn't be very long for this world. Such a pity, too."

"Why don't you guys just go ahead and kill me now?" She seethed as her glower only intensified. "It'd save you all the trouble."

Rosa brought a hand to her chin and glanced at the ceiling as though in deep thought. That hand then disappeared behind her back. A second later it reemerged, and Rei's eyes were immediately drawn to the silver glint reflected off of the eight-inch-long blade carried within. She recoiled when Rosa leaped toward the bed, but she was too slow to escape the older woman's firm grasp of her arm, one she found pinned behind her back. Her other arm was immobile, trapped beneath her body as she was pushed face-down onto the mattress. She struggled to fight back, but the woman was far too strong and enjoyed leverage over her. For the first time since awakening she felt real fear.

"You know what? I _don't_ know why we're keeping you alive." A trickle of blood flowed down Rei's neck and chin as Rosa pressed the blade ever harder against the side of her throat. "Oh, wait, _now_ I remember. It's because you're being used as collateral. That means we can't kill you, not if we want to receive what we're asking for."

Her voice could barely surpass a whisper, so encumbered was she by fear. "W-what do y-you want from m-m-me?"

"Not anything you can provide." She pulled the knife away from Rei's neck and took a step away from the frightened girl. "However, your lovely father is in a prime position to meet our demands. He just needs a little bit of motivation, that's all. You're that motivation, you see."

A whimper slipped through Rei's lips as she nodded. Her body relaxed the moment she saw the knife disappear behind Rosa's back. She turned her head to follow the woman as she walked around to the other side of the bed, passing to her a questioning gaze.

"Ah! I sense you want to ask what our demands are. That much I can tell, but not right now. You'll find out soon enough, dear. Understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Good." Rosa hummed a delightful tune upon spotting the food tray. "Wow! I'm happy that our playful little ruckus didn't ruin your breakfast. Salmon is hard to come by around these parts, you see, and I come from an upbringing where we try not to waste food. Don't you agree?"

By Rei's estimation, the smile she received appeared remarkably genuine. However, she had good reason to be wary, and offered the smallest reply possible. "Sure."

"I'm not the best cook around here, but I'm sure a lot better than anyone else here, I'll tell you. Anyway, since I'm sure you wouldn't like the taste of blood mixed with your food, I'll go grab you a cool towel and some bandages."

Her sigh slipped free the moment the door closed shut behind Rosa, one of two she spotted. If even for a second, she was alone—which meant she was safe. She ran her fingers along her the thin line where the knife had broken her skin. That it had already begun to heal did not surprise her one bit.

 _Thank God for my healing powers._ The blood that coated her fingertips was old, but it was a potent reminder of what could have been. She pulled her knees into her chest, buried her face into them, and shuddered. _That crazy woman nearly killed me. She actually nearly killed me. I didn't expect her to go that far. What the hell did I get myself dragged into?_ A hitched breath came first, followed by a gasp that echoed throughout the room. _Wait! I should be able to get out of this. I'm a senshi after all. Once I find my transformation pen I should be good to go._

There would be no such search for that magical item, at least not at that time. Before she could swivel around to plant her feet upon the floor, the door swung open to reveal Rosa. The woman held a bottle of peroxide in one hand, a towel and bandages in the other, and an almost friendly grin on her lips.

"I wouldn't go messing with that and risk getting an infection." She sat down at the same side of the bed from where Rei would have departed had she gotten the opportunity. "Now, let's have a look, shall we."

Begrudgingly, Rei allowed the woman to lift her chin with one hand. The peroxide-soaked towel felt cold and somewhat uncomfortable to the touch, as she expected. She heard the woman hum after putting away a towel that once was white but had turned a light shade of crimson.

"I guess I didn't nick you there as deeply as I thought." Her smile widened. "Then again, I wasn't trying very hard, either. But, that means we probably won't need to use any of these. Anyway, hurry up and eat your breakfast before it gets cold, okay? I'll be back in about ten minutes or so." She patted Rei atop her head once more before walking out of the room.

Her visage twisted with revulsion, but only after the woman had exited the room. She turned to the tray and the plate of rice and smoked salmon it held and scoffed.

 _What the hell kind of game does she think she's playing? One second, she's trying to kill me. The next second, she's acting all friendly to me. There's no way I'm going to go along with this quietly._

Her overwhelming hunger, prompted by her stomach's loud complaints, nixed any immediate start to her planned defiance. Seconds later, she grabbed the fork that rested next to the plate, skewered a piece of fish, and tentatively placed it in her mouth. It felt dry and tasted bland compared to what she preferred, but it was unmistakably salmon. The rice was worse, but still quite edible. In the end she had completely cleaned the plate of food. She had not kept time, and she lacked a means to do so, but she reckoned that she had a few minutes before Rosa returned. So, she completed the task she had attempted once before and rolled out of the bed. Her gaze immediately latched onto the second door, and her curiosity was piqued soon thereafter.

 _Hmm. I wonder where this goes._

The other side of the door revealed absolutely nothing spectacular, and she frowned because of it. All that was there was a western-style bathroom, one that was as sparsely decorated as the bedroom. The only notable addition was a floor-length mirror, one that produced a hazy reflection at best. Nevertheless, provided her the only opportunity to study herself, and she wasted no time in doing so.

 _I don't want to sound too much like Minako-chan, but I look absolutely hideous in this._ Her frown vanished, but only because she felt even greater depression in place of disappointment. _These look just like the robes Usagi-chan was wearing the last time I saw her._ She did not bother to fend off the tears that soon flowed freely down her cheeks. _God, I wish I get an opportunity to see her again. If I make it out of this alive, I want to be able to hug her and tell her how much I miss her._

Her gaze was lowered when she walked back into the bedroom, a byproduct of her despair. That might have been the reason she failed to realize that she was not alone in the room until she caught a glimpse of a second pair of feet. Standing next to the bed was another woman, one who was taller and, quite frankly, stouter than Rosa. Her expression was one of outright hostility. That was the last thing about the woman that Rei could discover before finding her world filled with darkness once again.

—|1| **2** |3|—

Rei's first utterance upon regaining consciousness was a low groan, which perfectly suited her disposition. In fact, it far exceeded the alternative, given her severe nausea. She knew in her heart the room could not have been spinning as wildly as her senses appeared to tell her. However, she could do little to quell her dizziness even as she grasped her head in her hands and attempted to breathe as slowly as possible. It appeared another trip to the bathroom was in order.

"Oh. You're awake. That's good news." The female voice sounded familiar, but for some reason she could not pin a name to it. "Margaret really packs quite a punch, and she seems to hate your guts. It took a while to get her to stop, yeah. Sorry about that."

Agony wracked her body as Rei turned to where she guessed mysterious woman was standing. Her eyes remained shut the entire time, fearing what would happen if she opened them yet. She did open her eyes a few seconds later, but not because she had wanted to. The hands that pried open her eyelids were soft but incredibly cold to the touch. Yet, the brash maneuver gave her a glimpse of the person who had addressed her. Only then did recognition strike.

"Rosa…?"

The woman took a step back and frowned. "I'm not so ugly that you can't stand to look at me, am I?"

"N-no." Her answer, though delivered in shaky tones, was swift, for with recognition came recollection. She did not want to see that knife again.

"Then, that means you think I'm pretty, ne?" She walked toward the shrine maiden once again, and her grimace morphed into an impish pout as she did so.

"Uh…"

"Come on, don't be shy. It's a simple question." Rei did not hear the callousness she anticipated in that voice. That made her even more anxious.

"Um, I guess."

"You do?" A warm smile graced the woman's lips as she sat at the edge of the bed. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

"Huh?"

Rosa's antics left Rei incredibly confused, but that emotion swiftly left her barely a second later when she felt the woman's embrace. One of those soft hands grasped her around the waist while the other gripped her shoulder, and both worked to pull her into a surprisingly tender hug. Her mind seemed to go blank at that point. She heard the woman whisper something, but the words and their meanings just seemed to float away in the face of her dueling sensations. In one sense she felt relaxed, if not also thrilled, to be held so delicately. Sure, the person doing so was part of the group who had kidnapped her, but she preferred being hugged to being beaten to the point of unconsciousness.

…At least, that was true up to the moment when she felt that same cool touch roam about parts of her body that decidedly weren't her waist or shoulder. The wary portion of her mind enjoyed fleeting vindication before the feeling of utter disgust overtook everything.

"You know, I look at you and wish that we could have met under more pleasant conditions." Rosa's lips were only inches away from Rei's left ear as she whispered. "Such a beautiful young girl like yourself gets caught up in such a horrible situation through no real fault of your own. It's quite a pity. You can blame your father for that. But, that all will be resolved in due course, and everything will be right again. You'll be let go." There was a brief pause punctuated by a sigh. "You'll be let go, and I won't get to be with you anymore. That fact depresses me the most. But, there is a way that both of us can gain some happiness out of this misery. When I said there was nothing you could provide me, it turned out I wasn't being completely honest. There might not be anything you could give my partners, but for me…"

Her words came to an end upon an earsplitting scream and a flinch so violent that she found herself lying face-down on the floor. She hastily pushed herself upright, only to meet a pair of eyes burning with hatred so fervent that, for a moment, it left her truly shocked.

"Don't you _dare_!"

It did not take Rosa very long to recover, and her resulting grin was wicked. "Or else what? Would you prefer seeing Margaret again instead of me? You didn't have enough fun with her the last time? Better yet, do you want to meet Alex instead?" She stood up and dusted her pants with one hand while the other moved to her back and grasped the handle of her knife. All the while, her heated glare remained fixed upon Rei. "I did say I was your friend in this mess, didn't I, but only if you work with me. Right now, you're not working with me. As much as it pains me, I would not hesitate to send you to them. You'll wish to die, and they will not grant you that wish." She pulled the knife out of its scabbard. "At the very least, I'd have the decency to kill you quickly."

Rei's fury and resulting bravado vaporized when she saw that silver blade inch ever closer to her chest. She scurried to the edge of the bed, but her haste gave her no more safety. Her eyes darted to the door, but she knew her chances were poor. They became much worse when Rosa, sensing the obvious, moved to block her only path of escape.

"I can see that you're flustered right now, and who can blame you. That's not what I want. What I want is to be your friend, but you're not giving either of us many choices here. So, I'll tell you what. You can calm down and understand that I don't want to hurt you, or you can continue acting this way and I'll give you to the people who do want to hurt you." She hid the knife away once again and walked toward the door. Right before she crossed the threshold she turned around and winked. "I'll give you a few minutes or so to think about your options."

It was an absolute miracle that Rei managed to suppress her fierce urge to vomit once she heard the door close shut. She eschewed the bed, opting to shuffle to the far corner of the room and curl into a ball with her legs pulled tightly to her chest.

 _God, what do I do? I honestly thought Rosa was best until she tried to… to…_ The tears formed quickly and slipped down her cheeks unabated. Her entire body shuddered merely at the thought of what might have been. _I don't want to be here anymore._

"Hey, Rei-san? Can you hear me?"

It was a voice she recognized, but it belonged to neither of the two women she had encountered thus far. She lifted her head and started to turn it in the direction from where she heard the voice emanate but stopped midway through. Instead, her lips were tugged into a weary smile. She had not expected her prayers to be answered so swiftly.

 _Oh, salvation!_

"Um… Rei-san? Hello?"

"Yes, I can hear you." Rei was on the verge of crying purely from the sense of relief she felt, even though she could not see her rescuer. "Thank you so much for finding me."

The woman sounded slightly smug, yet it was generally kind. "That task took way more time than I would've wanted. Trust me. By the way, what are you doing in an abandoned military bunker in Albania? That might as well be smack in the middle of nowhere for goodness sake."

"All I know is I was kidnapped by a bunch of lunatics."

"But, you're Sailor Mars." Confusion permeated the woman's voice. "These were just normal people, and not nearly as strong as the youmas we fought at your shrine. Why didn't you just fight them off?"

"It's not that easy. For whatever reason, I never knew they were even after me until I woke up here."

"Well, that's not good. What's stopping you from going to them and kicking their collective asses?"

Rei exhaled a dismal sigh. "I don't have my transformation pen. They took it when they took my clothes. All I have to wear is this horrible dress."

"I see." Sounds of contemplative humming filled the room for several moments. "If I remember correctly, there were five people here not including you. Hopefully I didn't miss any as there weren't any auras I could feel. It might be a little dicey trying to take them on, especially when they're armed and you're not, I'd imagine. My skill set is poorly suited toward fighting creatures that don't use magic, but I'll try my best to help you regardless."

"We need to hurry." The once sullen Rei leaped to her feet and jogged toward the door. "That woman should be coming back soon."

"Which one? There are three that I recall."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. They're all crazy and they're all trying to hurt me, or worse."

"Well, in that case, I have a plan. I'll do what I can to distract them. Since they're normal humans, I'm pretty sure they'll be spooked if I give them a demonstration of my powers. I'll let you know when it's safe to leave here."

Understandably, Rei was hesitant to immediately trust that enigmatic woman's plan, but she had little time to complain or create her own strategy. Almost immediately she heard a series of booms and bangs immediately across the door, followed by a loud scream and rapid stomping sounds that faded over time. She assumed it were the footsteps of someone sprinting. The door spontaneously opened seconds later, momentarily frightening the shrine maiden, followed by the woman's excited whisper.

"Quick! Run to the end of the hall!"

She wasted no time in doing exactly that. Meeting her at the end of the narrow corridor was a pair of doors, one on each side.

"Which way now?"

"Um…" The brief period of silence left Rei feeling even more anxious as she waited for some answer. A sharp explosion that rattled one of the doors and nearly knocked her to the ground prompted her to grin. "Left! Go left!"

With a sharp tug of the handle, she pulled open the door and darted into a cloud of dust so thick that it was impossible to see anything more than a few feet in front of her face. She covered her mouth with a sleeve to muffle a coughing fit.

"Keep going, Rei-san!" The voice originated from the end of the hallway, as if to lead the way. "You're almost there. Just a little bit…"

An odd zapping noise in the same place she heard the woman's voice fade away, followed by a sharp yelp and a thud, caused Rei to immediately freeze in place. A pall fell over her as confusion and fear set in, emotions exacerbated when the hallway was plunged into complete darkness.

"Hello? A-are you okay? What happened?"

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much." The masculine voice that responded was unfamiliar to Rei, but she immediately recognized the sarcasm in his tone. "Though, I can't quite say the same for you."

Frightened by the strange man's sinister voice, Rei swiveled on her heels and started to dash for the door, but she heard it slam shut before she could take even two paces. Footsteps echoed off the concrete walls as another person made a slow approach.

"You shouldn't have tried to escape." This one was a gruff feminine voice, and it was just as new and frightening to her as the man's. "Now there's nowhere you can go, and my idiot sister isn't around to help you."

"Hey, who's the idiot around here?" Rei immediately identified the third person, but that only intensified her despair. "I don't go around damaging the goods before we have a chance to use them. And, besides, you wouldn't even be on this operation if it weren't for me, dear Margaret."

There was a dismissive snort. "Damaging the goods? Speak for yourself, sis! Or have you forgotten why you were left at home the last time?"

"It was mutual! She wanted it as much as I did!"

"Yeah. She wanted your 'friendliness' so much that she killed herself before we could collect any real profit from it. A month's hard work ruined just so you could satisfy your sick urges."

"Girls!" His shout startled Rei, but it also achieved his primary goal of silencing the other two women. "Stop your pointless bickering for God's sake! It's getting on my nerves. Besides, we do have a hostage that we need to take care of. So, while I take care of this other one here, go make yourselves useful and take Miss Hino to the room."

"Yes, sir."

Hints of irritation lingered within their joined tones, but they immediately set off to work. Rei realized that fact when she heard the pair of footsteps grow louder. Before she could turn around she felt one hand tightly grasp and twist her arm and another shove her in the back. She collapsed to her knees, wincing as she felt sharp pain shoot up her legs from the impact. Her agony was increased by the chilly sensation she felt around her wrists. Metallic clanking and the inability to separate her hands no matter how hard she tugged them apart informed that it was due to handcuffs. It made her forget about the pressure across her eyes and ears caused by the blindfold that was tied tighter than necessary.

"Come on, move!" Rei figured it was Margaret who had hoisted her to her feet. "And you'd better not say a goddamned thing along the way, or else."

Several minutes and a lot more walking than she ever anticipated found the girl sitting alone once again. She did not know if it was the lack of cushioning in the flat surfaces of the steel chair or the fact her arms and legs were solidly handcuffed to it that was more painful. No amount of wriggling could free her appendages and swaying side-to-side or back-and-forth did nothing to move the chair. It must have been bolted to the floor. The blindfold prevented her from seeing anything within the room, but her ears told her there was a television somewhere in front of her. Not only was turned it on, she could easily comprehend the voices that came from the set as the people were speaking in Japanese. Her heart sank deeper into her stomach the longer she listened, for she knew exactly the subject of the news report.

"Yes, dear Rei, those people on TV are talking about you."

Rosa's entrance startled the shrine maiden, reducing her to whimpering tones. "Please, don't hurt me."

"Hurt you? You silly girl. As I said before, _I_ don't want to hurt you. _They_ do."

"B-but…"

"Oh, you're still thinking about those lies my dear sister Margaret told." Her voice betrayed a curious disappointment. "She didn't kill herself because of anything I did to her, because she actually wanted to be with me. No, she killed herself because of the constant torture from those two brutes, torture that I want to save you from having to endure. But, that's only if you want to be saved."

Rei could barely perceive the faint thuds of footsteps. Only when she felt the familiar cold touch of a soft hand caressing her cheek that she knew just how close Rosa was to her. She resisted the urge to flinch when she felt a finger slowly glide down the middle of her chest.

"So, have you made up your mind yet?"

She knew there was no real choice to make in the matter. Both of her available options were beyond terrible, especially since escape was no longer one of them. The knot in her throat was difficult to swallow as she performed the cold calculus necessary for survival.

 _I hate this disgusting woman with a passion. The last thing I want is to be her plaything. But, I might just be able to get the hell out of this if I'm with her than with them. I have no idea what they're going to do to me. This Margaret woman would probably beat me to death, and that man sounded even more sinister. I don't know how, but he even managed to defeat my guardian angel without using magic. If Rosa's being honest about not wanting to hurt me—well, beyond what she's already done to me—then it's an easy decision to make._

Though her mind was made up, Rei's whispered answer provided no outward indication of such certainty. "It's you."

"Is that right?" Almost childlike excitement permeated Rosa's voice. "You really do want to be friends with me?"

A hesitant nod of Rei's head was enough to change the entire atmosphere of the room. She groaned when she sensed an incredible weight settle upon her thighs. The ensuing increase in warmth across most of her body confirmed her suspicion of its source. She squirmed under the woman's tight embrace, one that pulled the two so close together to the point of almost suffocating. In her mind, that was merely the start of her misery. It worsened dramatically when she felt a smooth and pliable object brush against her lips. An intense desire to fight back surged within her, but she knew she could do nothing while she was restrained. A tear slipped down her cheek as she tried her best to ignore the unwanted sensations that filled her as Rosa pressed deeper into a passionate kiss. Though only a few seconds had elapsed before the woman pulled away, to Rei it felt like an eternity of torment.

"Oh, we're going to have so much fun together." Rosa leaned forward once again, but stopped right before their lips touched. She exhaled a sigh of frustration before letting go of the girl and rising to her feet. "Dammit! What horrible timing. But, we might as well stop and listen to this, as it has everything to do with both your current and future predicaments."

 _Thank God,_ Rei thought, but for good reason dared not utter aloud. Instead, she squealed when she felt the blindfold ripped free of her head. A winking Rosa was the first thing she saw upon opening her eyes.

"I might as well let you watch as well."

Rei turned her gaze toward the television, the large screen being unique in its modernity among the many items strewn about the room that were decades older. It displayed a large red curtain, before which stood a podium surrounded by microphones and handheld audio recorders. Several bright flashes indicated the presence of dozens of photographers who joined the television crews and reporters in documenting the event. The enormity of the scene confused her immensely.

"W-what is this?"

The woman laughed. "Your dear father fulfilling his promise to us. At least, it will be once the dullard shows up. Then you will learn the reasons why we brought you all the way out here from your home."

The excitement portrayed on television came to a crescendo when the man in question walked toward the podium. He carried a binder in one hand and a long cylindrical tube in the other. Several conflicting emotions flooded Rei when she saw her father step toward the microphones. Irritation and defiance had dominated during her last encounter with the man, and even despite her predicament they did not completely disappear. Those negative feelings were shoved aside in her mind, replaced by anxiety, regret, longing, and hope. In her nervousness, she almost failed to perceive Rosa arms gently wrap around her stomach as the woman leaned in and hugged her from behind.

"Heh. Though, if nothing else, it should be great entertainment."

—|1|2| **3** |—

"Hm. Touching." Sarcasm laced Rosa's giggles as she lifted a hand and used it to gently stroke Rei's cheek. "A bit delusional of your father, though, I must admit. And, sad. Quite the pity, really."

Rei did not hear a single word that flowed from that strange woman's lips. She barely even flinched when she felt the cold touch on her skin. Her gaze was fixed on the television screen and the continuing broadcast. Even though he no longer was on camera, having long departed to be replaced by network talking heads, her interest never wavered. In her mind she replayed the first part of her father's speech, the part addressed specifically to her.

 _I love you too, dad. I love you too._ A tear fell from her eye and trickled down her face, to be wiped away by the back of Rosa's hand. She hardly budged. _I'm here, dad. Please, come get me._

The screen flashed and went black, and it seemed to finally snap the girl out of her daze. Her return to reality occurred just in time to see Rosa slide around the chair and lean over her. Her arms and legs tensed as adrenaline surged through her body. Though, with those very appendages strapped to the chair, there was nothing she could do when the woman straddled her lap once again and draped her arms over her shoulders.

"You're mine, and I really don't want to give you up." Her impish smile widened as she brought her lips closer to Rei's. "Certainly not to a man as careless as him."

The shrine maiden narrowed her eyes into a fierce glare. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Honestly, I wanted us to enjoy our time together. Maybe… somewhat like this."

Despite Rei's desperate struggling, she could not escape from yet another long kiss from the woman she hated deeply. It eventually ended, but not soon enough to prevent being overwhelmed by disgust. Rosa's tone was more sardonic when she started to speak again.

"But then, there is the little issue of what you father did just a few minutes ago. He really went and made things so unnecessarily complicated, you see." The sight of the girl's furious expression shattering in the face of confusion made her chuckle. "I mean, you paid attention to what he did during that press conference, right? Not only did that make my job far harder than necessary, but frankly it ruins the mood." A minute grin flitted across Rosa's lips for the briefest moment as leaned in closer to Rei's ear to whisper. "And, probably more important for you, it makes it a whole lot more difficult for me to save you."

The implication behind Rosa's final sentence was not lost on Rei, and her resulting anxiety made her feel nauseous.

"N-no… Please, don't…"

" _Shh_. Hush, you. Remember, I told you that I'm not going to hurt you." Rosa gently caressed Rei's lips with the fingers of her right hand as she spoke. "I really do mean it, honest to God. But, my success depends entirely on you and what you decide to do. So, I need you to cooperate with me. Can you do that, if not for my sake then at least for yours?"

To say that Rei didn't need very much time to answer was an understatement. Despite the intense disgust she felt, all borne from that woman's proximity, and her more immediate fear and confusion, she still retained enough of her wits to sense that only one answer was correct. She loathed Rosa, wanted nothing more than to be as far from her as possible. But, as she trembled upon sucking in a shallow breath, she knew that wasn't the absolute truth. There was something she wanted even more than that. Rosa's request stood in her way. It was also her only route to escaping her present nightmare.

"Y-yes."

"Ah! Excellent!" Rosa squealed with excitement, eliciting a surprised yelp from Rei. "Now, I get that you don't trust me all that much, all things considered. I mean, who blindly trusts their abductor, especially one who's nicked you a time or two with a big, scary knife, hmm? But, no worries, dear lass. When I'm done here, I assure you that you'll be able to see your family and friends once again. Absolutely! I mean, you'll have to put up with me as well, I'm sorry to say, but I _guess_ I can learn to share. Anyway, isn't that such a tiny price to pay—" she leaned forward once more so that her nose came barely a hair's width from touching Rei's— "especially when you want to see _her_ again?"


End file.
